ODI abandonment leads to violence
Guwahati, April 9: The abandonment of the fifth one-day cricket match between India and England today triggered crowd violence and led to police lobbing teargas shells to disperse angry spectators. Spectators threw missiles on to the field and set advertising hoardings on fire after umpires decided to call off play due to "unplayable" ground conditions following continuous rains over the last few days.
The umpires -- Rudi Koertzen and A V Jayaprakash -- carried out five inspections of the ground before calling off the match at 1.15 p.m. after consulting rival captains Virender Sehwag and Andrew Flintoff. The decision of the umpires to call off the match was met with disapproval by the fans who had waited patiently since morning in the hope of catching some action at the Nehru Stadium.
Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse a section of crowd which turned unruly, burning posters and banners in the gallery. Two policemen and one spectator were injured as bricks and bamboo were hurled at the cops. Earlier, the authorities exhausted all options, even going to the extent of deploying a helicopter to fan the outfield dry after conventional mopping up operations and use of the super sopper proved ineffective.
India, who have already clinched the seven-match series after winning the first four games, and England will now travel to Jamshedpur for the sixth match on April 12. (Agencies)
