While I think the disturbances at Edgbaston, Headingley and Nottingham were really bad for the image of cricket in general and the Pakistani team supporters in particular, my poser relates to the Australians walking off in Nottingham and Waugh’s warning before the match that they would forfeit the match if there was trouble during the final. Say there was a pitch invasion when Australia were 130 for 1, requiring another 23 runs to win, would Waugh have forfeited the match.
I DONT THINK SO.
Invading the pitch and disrupting the progress of a match is NOT done. Period. The question of the response of a particular team in that event is secondary and peripheral to the issue unless you are ruing the fact that there was no pitch invasion in the final game which might have ended in Australia forfieting and Pakistan winning the game.
I would have sided with Steve Waugh's decision which ever way he would have responded because he reserves the right to do what he thinks is right in a circumstance not of his own or his countrymen's making even if it worked out to Australia's advantage. (The buggers who run into the field need to be taught a lesson in any case).
Old Monk, I dont support pitch invasions at matches and actually posted here my disgust at what happened at headingley. The point here was not one of hoolignism or otherwise but would Waugh have stood by his decision to forfeit the match 20 odd runs short of victory, if there had been a pitch invasion.
Maybe this needs a new thread but it is related to the aspect of hooliganism in cricket. Did any of you watch the prize-distribution after Lords’ match?
Someone who saw it told me that someone in the crowd threw a full beer can in the lobby where the it hit Bevan on the cheek. The TV cameras then picked out the guy who had thrown the can and later police was seen arresting him and leading him off. The remaining prize distribution was held inside.
I think it is darn shameful incident, especially since Pakistan had already lost the match. Some speculated that the real target was perhaps Inzi, who was standing in front of Bevan but in totally characteristic manner avoided the can in a dreamlike stance. Whoever did it and for whatever purpose he did it, as a Pakistani supporter he did no good to the name of Pakistan.
This story is also available on CricInfo
[quote]
Originally posted by ehsan:
**Say there was a pitch invasion when Australia were 130 for 1, requiring another 23 runs to win, would Waugh have forfeited the match.
I DONT THINK SO.**
[/quote]
I think so. Why is it so surprising to think otherwise? unless winning is more important than safety? In Pakistans case, it would be true, since they are there for personal gains most of the time. The pathetic levels that the Pak team has taken the game of cricket to is now tranferring into our crowds as well.
There is not a single Pak cricket player who isnt tainted by a gambling/sex/drugs scandal. And now, the folks who provide them with these amenities in UK are joining their ranks as well.
What astonishes me is that in this terribly pathetic display, we are trying to find some positive light for Pakistan and their crowds by guessing the prospective reaction of Australia. We already have a tainted and disgraceful win against England. To add another one would have been icing on the cake.
Would you like to list which gambling/sex/drugs scandal is Yousuf youhanna, Rashid Latif, Razzaq,Azhar, Mohammed Sami, Imran Nazir and Faisal Iqbal involved with. I think one should refrain from making such sweeping statements. We are very quick to point the "pathetic levels" of our team while we hold the Australian team in such high esteem that we seem to be in awe of them. After all these are the same Australians who have such high morals that they swept the match fixing scandal of two of their players under the carpet for years. No one was trying to find any positive light out of this it was just a poser as to whether he would have conceded and I think he would not have.
[quote]
Originally posted by ehsan:
*Would you like to list which gambling/sex/drugs scandal is Yousuf youhanna, Rashid Latif, Razzaq,Azhar, Mohammed Sami, Imran Nazir and Faisal Iqbal involved with. I think one should refrain from making such sweeping statements. We are very quick to point the "pathetic levels" of our team while we hold the Australian team in such high esteem that we seem to be in awe of them. After all these are the same Australians who have such high morals that they swept the match fixing scandal of two of their players under the carpet for years. No one was trying to find any positive light out of this it was just a poser as to whether he would have conceded and I think he would not have. *
[/quote]
Ehsan...the Pak cricket team is known around the world via the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saleem Malik and the likes. Not many around the world know who Muhammad Sami or Imran Nazir is.
Besides, my point wasnt an endorsement of Australia as opposed to a bashing of Pakistan. The bottom line, for beginners, is that crowd trouble should not be allowed to dictate the outcome of a game. And if crowd trouble forces one of the teams to forfeit, to me thats just as good as a no-decision. But thats my way of thinking. I dont want a match handed to me via forfeiture, regardless of how close I was to winning.