Bourda debacle --Match declared a tie after crowd invasion
By Donald Duff
What should have been a thrilling finish to the Cable and Wireless Series fifth one-day match between West Indies and Australia at Bourda yesterday, ended in a tie after an unruly crowd invaded the field while the match was still in progress. The match, first reduced to 30 overs because of early morning rain, was declared a tie nearly one hour and 15 minutes after the last ball was bowled. This followed a meeting during which Match Referee, Raman Subha Rao, and Australia and West Indies captains, Steve Waugh and Jimmy Adams, viewed the television replays of the final moments of the game. Subha Rao told Stabroek News in an invited comment last night that the two batsmen--Steve Waugh and vice-captain Shane Warne--were in the process of going for a third run when they were impeded by the crowd which had invaded the field. The match referee admitted that, in his opinion, he did not feel the players would have made the third run, but because the crowd invaded the field the Australians had a case. He said that West Indies manager Clive Lloyd and Adams were gracious in accepting the decision, but they were very disappointed with the behaviour of the crowd. Subha Rao criticised the police on hand for not doing a good job and questioned why they were not in the right places at the time, although they had been briefed by him earlier. He also said the incident has left a big question mark as to whether any more international matches would be staged in Georgetown. Subha Rao said although the stumps were broken by Keith Arthurton, Warne was in his ground and it was after the stumps were broken that the players attempted a third run. Initially, it was felt that the West Indies had won since Australia ended on 172 for 7 off 30 overs, while the West Indies had made 173 for 5. But few would argue the result, which some would even justify as the penalty needed to prevent a re-occurrence of this nature. Australia, chasing 174 for victory, needed four runs off the last ball bowled by Arthurton in order to win the game. The batsmen, Steve Waugh and Warne, ran two and attempted a third only to see dozens of spectators running from all parts of the field onto the pitch. West Indies had seemed to be holding the upper hand, reducing the visitors to 119 for 7 before Waugh with an unbeaten 71 and Warne who ended on 19, staged a late rally. With some 15 runs coming off Carl Hooper's final over and 11 off the penultimate bowled by Courtney Walsh, only seven runs were needed off the final six balls of the match. The spectators apparently believing that the match was completed, ran onto the field removing the stumps in the process. It took several minutes for order to be restored and the stumps replaced before the final over could be bowled. After some consultation the West Indies decided that Arthurton's slow left arm spin could do the trick. Waugh took a couple off the first delivery and with five runs to score in five balls, Australia scented victory. A hush came over the ground as Waugh failed to score off the next four. The Australians now needed four runs off the last ball in order to win, and three runs to tie the scores. It was here that disaster struck again. Unfortunately this is not the first time a match at Bourda has ended in this manner. The 1993 five-match Cable and Wireless series between the West Indies and Pakistan was also poised 2-2 when the teams came to Guyana for the decider. The match turned out to be a pulsating, fluctuating contest to be decided on the last ball, but, like yesterday, the crowd invaded the field and what should have been a West Indies win was adjudged a tie by Subha Rao. Yesterday Australian skipper Waugh had won the toss for the ninth time in the series and sent the West Indies in. The game initially scheduled for 50 overs was reduced to 30 after some three and a half hours were lost because of early morning rainfall. When play finally started at 1 pm, openers Ridley Jacobs and Sherwin Campbell put on 83 in 14.3 overs, with the 50 up in 8.1 overs. However, they were both dismissed within one run of each other-- Campbell brilliantly caught by Shane Lee low to his right off his own bowling, and Jacobs by flicking Lee to midwicket where Mark Waugh held the easy catch. Campbell topscored with 41 off 43 balls with four fours, while Jacobs's 33 came off 51 balls and included a six and two fours. Australia struck again 16 runs later, when Hooper was stumped by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist off Warne who also bowled Adams with one with that deceived him completely. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Stuart Williams struggled to add 19 runs in six overs, before they picked up the tempo. The two put on 52 runs in 62 balls with Williams coming into his own towards the end. He struck Warne for a six over mid on and also hit him for a four in the leg spinner's final over. His unbeaten 30 included one six and two fours off 42 balls. The burly Phil Simmons, who came in at the fall of Chanderpaul's wicket, smashed Lee for two sixes ending with 15 off only five balls. Australia began their reply with Mark Waugh and Gilchrist appearing cautious against Walsh, but not against Dillon whose first over cost 11 runs. However, the lanky Trinidadian settled in nicely and removed Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting with successive balls. Darren Lehmann averted the hat-trick but fell soon after, bowled by Hooper for 13. Gilchrist was run out for 44 off 44 balls with two sixes and five fours and Simmons removed Michael Bevan and Shane Lee in the space of three balls to leave Australia 116 for 6. Three runs later Hendy Bryan removed Tom Moody, who had been attempting to clear Dillon on the long-off boundary. At 119 for 7 Australia's cause seemed hopeless. But Steve Waugh and Warne and the crowd had other ideas.
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