ENGLAND'S cricketers may refuse to play tomorrow's final tour match in
India if any more missiles are thrown in the one-day international at
Gwalior today.
Play could also be abandoned today in what is the fifth one-day
international after an agreement reached yesterday about what to do if
there is misbehaviour among the 25,000 sell-out crowd. England lead the
one-day internationals so far by three matches to one.
A meeting between English and Indian cricket chiefs, local police, and
the two match umpires produced a united front in how to react to any
hooliganism.
England tour manager Bob Bennett confirmed: ''There is now a very
clear chain of action which has been agreed if there are any
repetitions.
''The player in question will report the incident to the captain. The
captain will then inform the umpires, who would make the decision as to
whether or not the game should be suspended, or that the players should
leave the field.
''The captain has the authority to make his position clear, but if the
umpires are in any doubt about what to do, they immediately will consult
with the match referee, whose decision would be final.
''We have also been given assurances that there will be a cordon of
police both inside and outside a perimeter fence which surrounds the
playing area.''
Bennett would not be specific when asked if England would pull out of
tomorrow's match should there be any major problems today. He said: ''We
will cross that bridge if we come to it.''
But he did add: ''If there was any repetition of an incident similar
to the one involving Devon Malcolm, then we would have to consider the
position very seriously.''
Extra police will be deployed inside the stadium and around the
perimeter fencing to prevent a repeat of the trouble in the last one-day
international at Jamshedpur when a six-inch metal spike narrowly missed
paceman Malcolm.
Several England and Indian players were also pelted with stones, while
Indian opener Navjot Sidhu had to flee from his position on the boundary
when spectators started to fling tin scoreboard number plates at him.
After that match, England's management called for an urgent meeting
between the relevant authorities in Gwalior.
England want immediate action, especially with the World Cup scheduled
for the sub-continent in 1996. England's fraught tour of India is ending
in more tension.
Back in January, it was political problems that led to their players
being guarded by armed police in the hotel at Lucknow -- and then the
opening one-day international at Ahmedabad being called off.
Now there will be more than 500 police on duty at today's match, plus
more volunteer stewards to try to maintain crowd control.
England, as expected, have named the same 12 for today's match, with
Neil Fairbrother (bruised knee) and Alec Stewart (back) both fit again.
England team:
England -- R Smith, A Stewart (wk), G Hick, M Gatting, N Fairbrother,
G Gooch, capt, C Lewis, D Reeve, P DeFreitas, P Jarvis, D Malcolm, J
Emburey.
India have yet to name their final line-up, but it is almost certain
to come from:
Manoj Prabhakar, Navjot Sidhu, Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar,
Mohammad Azharuddin, Praveen Amre, Ajay Sharma, Kapil Dev, Kiran More,
Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, and Maninder Singh.
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