Cricket Australia rejects booze ban plan in grounds over attack on Pak player

Sydney, Feb 3 (ANI): Cricket Australia has rejected the idea of banning alcohol from Australian grounds after delivering apologies and explanations over Sunday night's pitch invasion in Perth which saw Pakistan opener Khalid Latif tackled to the ground.

CA chairman Jack Clarke and chief executive James Sutherland both apologised to their Pakistani counterparts.

However, CA argued that dramatically increased fines for spectators who enter the field of play should ensure repetitions of the incident, which led to Pakistan's Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, calling for alcohol to be banned from Australian grounds.

CA was quick to reject the idea of a booze ban. "Absolutely not. 'The Australian public tell us they want to come to the cricket and enjoy a beer, and the vast majority of them do so in a totally appropriate manner," said CA spokesman Peter Young.

IPL CEO Sundar Raman criticized the double standards applied by Australian cricket authorities who have engaged an independent security consultant to assess the risk for players going to India for the Twenty20 tournament.

"Maybe Paul Marsh should first think of sharing pitch invasion prevention plans with visiting teams before raving and ranting about security!" Raman tweeted.

Young conceded that closed-circuit television monitoring of crowds at the WACA Ground was not as effective as at other venues in Australia and stopping spectators from entering the field of play is more difficult because of the large hill area.

However, Young was emphatic that increased penalties would work. "We think the issue of Perth is pretty straightforward: there needs to be a review of the level of penalties so that the disincentive in Perth is as painful as it is elsewhere." (ANI)