Tie abandoned, stadium turns into battleground

Guwahati, Apr 9 (UNI) Instead of cricket it was the crowd that took centrestage at the Nehru stadium as police fired teargas shells and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the violent mob after the fifth India-England ODI was called-off at 1315 hours today.

If the weather gods played spoilsport forcing the tie to be abandoned, it was the crowd that became a cause for concern even as the English team was denied their first appearance at the ground.

Frustrated and disgruntled fans turned violent even as the match was being called-off. Trouble erupted on the eastern stands after the game continued to remain suspended due to poor ground conditions and quickly spread across the rest of the galleries.

It started with people tossing bottles and missiles on the ground as they grew impatient after waiting for the whole morning.

The ground conditions had been rendered unplayable due to continuous showers for the last few days. A smart shower last night finally put paid to the chances of the match being played making the crowd restless. They started throwing missiles and bottles on the ground, mostly targeting the officials and the security personnel.

The trouble took a more serious turn when the spectators started tearing down the advertisement vinyls from the temporary hoardings.

When the ground security people tried to stop them they were manhandled.

It took a more serious turn when they started setting the vinyls on fire prompting the security officials into action, who were till now trying to control them by asking them to calm down.

The para-military forces were promptly called in and they took their positions near the stands even as trouble spread spread to the entire gallery.

Umpires Rudy Koertzen and A V Jayprakash made their first inspection at 0800 hours and then went in for hourly inspections till 12 noon. At noon Koertzen said they would decide on the fate of the match at 1300 hours.

Setting the cut-off time at 1355 hours, Koertzen said, ''if we can start by 1400 hrs then only a 20-over match with a 10-minute changeover time will be possible.'' In the meantime a Ministry of Home helicopter came and tried drying the ground for an hour. The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) spent Rs 90,000 as hiring charge for the chopper for that hour. They did their best first getting the ground staff to work overtime, used the super sopper and then got the chopper to dry out the problem, as they say.

But upon inspection at 1300 hours, Koertzen said the two had found the ground conditions unsuitable for an international match.

''The ground conditions are far too slippery for the safety of the players,'' he said.

A V Jayprakash said, ''We tried our best but the clayey soil does not dry out that easily. It will take some very good sunshine that was missing today.'' ''After talking to both the captains it was finally decided to call off the match,'' Koertzen said.

UNI BA PM PM1412