West Indies in India

With crowd trouble affecting three of the four one-day internationals between India and West Indies, police has taken stringent steps to prevent spectators from throwing objects on the ground and check illegal entry of fans in the stadium for the fifth match in Baroda on Monday. Special nets would be installed at the stadium to prevent objects from landing on the field during the match, city police commissioner D D Tuteja told today. There were disturbances by a section of the crowd during the matches at Rajkot, Nagpur and Jamshedpur. Tuteja said police have also installed low intensity electricity wires around a small area of the stadium adjacent to nearby Undera village to check illegal entry into the stadium, as fans in the past had tried to gain entry into the stadium. When asked if installation of wires could prove fatal, Tuteja said prior announcements have been made in this regard and the wires will carry low intensity current. The BCCI has asked the staging centres to take all possible precautionary measures to avoid crowd trouble. All's well that ends well. That was the sigh of relief from DIG (Gandhinagar Range) Pramod Kumar, who was in charge of the security at the Motera Stadium, after the fourth match of the one-day series went off without any untoward incident. "I don't know what went awry in the other matches, but we were absolutely confident from the beginning that the match here (Ahmedabad) would go off well,'' Kumar said, well after almost everyone had vacated the stadium. So what's the reason behind the success story in a place volatile enough to scare off even the bravest? What went right? The checking was time-consuming, but well worth it. Nothing was allowed inside the stadium, and one could find heaps of things left behind by spectators at the gates. The incidents in the earlier three one-dayers obviously did alert the authorities here, and the increased police presence in the stands could was evident enough. Even the slightest heated argument drew a cop or two towards the protagonists in the stands yesterday. A scuffle meant half a dozen or more!

World Cup

World Cup Cricket fever is starting to build as Cricket World Cup SA, the organisation putting together the event, pulls out all stops to make it one of the biggest sporting events yet held on the African continent. On Monday Cricket World Cup will unveil paintings by five South African artists that will be used as massive billboards all around the country to welcome the 14 nations participating in the event. The paintings depict typical South African scenes, but with an added twist. For example, the "Welcome England" painting depicts a typical South African township scene with a red London double-decker bus coming along the road with cricketers peering out the windows. The "Welcome Australia" painting shows a mother with a baby tied onto her tummy with a blanket kangaroo-pouch style. Asked to produce the "Welcome India" painting, the artist interpreted this idea as a Putco bus carrying passengers and their luggage on the roof. The other paintings are said to be equally "exciting, colourful and innovative". One of the paintings, called Welcoming The World, will become a huge 20m by 20m billboard to be displayed in a prominent place in Johannesburg. Other paintings will become huge billboards at 50 points throughout South Africa. Ali Bacher, executive director of the 2003 ICC World Cup, surveyed Buffalo Park, East London's cricket arena, on Friday, and gave it the thumbs up for what he calls "the greatest sporting event ever in South Africa". Bacher, on a whistle-stop visit to all the centres that will host matches during the tournament during February and March, spent time on Friday in a meeting with key people involved with the World Cup. These included consultants, municipal officials, safety and security officials and various other role-players. The Johannesburg-based former South African captain hailed the enthusiasm he had encountered at the Border Cricket head office and said the commitment of the Border Cricket Board (BCB) members to the World Cup was outstanding. In particular he praised the chief executive of the BCB, Reunert Bauser, stadium curator Greg Dreyer and his staff and the BCB president, Ray Mali, while the hard work of former president Robbie Muzzell ensured the success Buffalo Park was now enjoying. Around R12 million has been spent to upgrade Buffalo Park, including R2,88m for a state-of-the-art new scoreboard which will feature the latest technology and a TV screen for instant replays. World Cup organisers will attempt to persuade the Australian cricket side to be part of a commando-style operation to ensure their match against Zimbabwe goes ahead. Cup organisers are aware of Australia's reservations about entering the strife-torn country for their match against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on February 24. A plan is being hatched for Australia to catch an early-morning privately chartered flight from Johannesburg in South Africa to land in Bulawayo on the morning of the match. The Australians would be taken to Queen's Ground with an armed security escort around their bus and fly out of the country within 90 minutes of the completion of their match. Cup organisers, flushed with a $180 million budget, would bankroll the exercise. Australia cancelled their three-Test tour of Zimbabwe scheduled for April this year due to domestic unrest which surrounded the country's controversial, undemocratic general election.

Miscellaneous

Cricketing legend Kapil Dev on Saturday came out strongly in favour of a single players' association in the country to look after the interests of Test cricketers as also those at the grassroot level. "What is the need to have two associations when both had the same objective, the welfare of cricketers. One should merge with the other," the former Indian skipper told newspersons. Kapil's comments were significant in the light of the controversy generated over the recent formation of the Indian Cricket Players' Association (ICPA) with reported efforts in some quarters to revive the defunct Association of Indian Cricketers (AIC) founded in 1989, as a rival body. Kapil, who was the president of AIC, said that it started off well, but fizzled out after some time as the Board agreed to all its demands. Asked about questions raised by former Test cricketer Ashok Malhotra on the ICPA's representative character, and on the funds the AIC had, Kapil said "though I was president of AIC, I don't know the details. But I will enquire into this."

England in Australia

The secrets behind the phenomenal success of Matthew Hayden have been revealed as the century-plundering batsman closes in on another milestone - 12 months without being bowled. His opening partner Justin Langer says Hayden is like "bowling to a brick wall" and that he intimidates opponents like India's Sachin Tendulkar. Man of the match in the first Test against England last week with twin centuries, Hayden has not been bowled in a first-class match since December 17 last year in the first Test against South Africa. He was dismissed then by Jacques Kallis, but not before compiling 131. Australian insiders attribute his purple patch to a devotion to improve his game and a torturous fitness campaign on North Stradbroke Island which has seen Hayden's skinfolds drop a staggering 35 per cent. His Test coach, John Buchanan, is not surprised that it has been 335 days since Hayden's stumps were rattled. "Right at the moment nothing surprises me about Matthew," Buchanan said. Australian captain Steve Waugh has made a timely return to form ahead of the second Ashes Test with a century for New South Wales. Waugh batted for more than five hours to make 135 against South Australia in Sydney, an innings which included four sixes and 13 fours. Despite leading Australia to a 384-run win in the first Test against England, Waugh's performance with the bat was a concern as he scored seven and 12 in the two innings. New South Wales team-mate Brett Lee, meanwhile, pressed his claim for a recall to the Test side with match figures of 11 for 180. He followed up his career-best seven for 114 in South Australia's first innings with four more as they were all out for 181. John Crawley promised England fans that the team would do everything possible to raise their game ahead of the second Test after another depressing day in Hobart. The tourists were forced to follow on after being bowled out for 183 by Australia A and then struggled to 96 for three at the close. Hampshire batsman Crawley top scored in the first innings with an unbeaten 43 not out, surviving for almost three hours on a pitch offering some uneven bounce. Robert Key and Mark Butcher were the only other batsmen to come to terms with conditions and the A team attack and England face a difficult task to avoid defeat on the final day.

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