ICC plans for improvement in ground safety

ICC Media Release October 12, 1999

ICC President Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya today announced that the ICC Executive Board had met in Dubai and approved a detailed action plan to provide improved security measures at grounds.

"International cricket should be played at all times free of the threat of unwelcome crowd invasions onto the ground and the risk of objects being thrown at players or umpires. ICC has been concerned at the growing number of incidents of this nature. Although they are in the minority, even one such incident is one too many."

"Our policy is quite clear - no spectator has a right to enter the field during play and until after the players and umpires have left the field after play. No spectator has a right to throw any object at anyone, be they player, umpires or fellow spectators. We urge spectators to respect the right of the players and umpires to participate free of interruptions to play. This policy will be communicated to the public before and at matches."

"Information on crowd management procedures in all countries has been pooled and shared among the Full Members. Countries have been requested to develop an effective alcohol management plan where appropriate. This may include a ban on bottles and cans being allowed to be taken into grounds."

"In some countries, it is not an offence to trespass onto the ground. Boards are asked to meet with their governments to seek legislation to deal effectively with spectator encroachment onto the ground and with spectators who throw missiles. The power of the ICC Referee will be extended to report on instances where the ICC safety policy is violated."

"Finally, a system of stringent sanctions against grounds will be adopted after detailed consideration. The Executive Board is prepared to support substantial fines and to remove International status from those grounds which fail to implement effective safety measures. We believe these measures will enable players to enjoy their cricket in safe conditions at all times", Mr Dalmiya said.

Other decisions taken at the meeting include:

• All countries with One Day International cricket status would participate in the ICC Knock-Out to be held in Nairobi from 3-15 October 2000. The Board sees the inclusion of Kenya and Bangladesh as a further opportunity to assist their high performance development. The final dates and program will be announced later.
• Consideration will be given to increasing the number of teams in the 2003 World Cup from 12 to 14. The Board will review different formats at its February meeting after countries have considered the ECB report on the 1999 event.
• The Chairman of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission, Lord Griffiths, has convened a Panel comprising himself, Sir Oliver Popplewell (England) and Justice Sachs (South Africa) to review the reports from the 1997 BCCI Inquiry and the 1999 ACB (O'Regan) Inquiry, including an unpublished confidential chapter from the latter Inquiry. The Panel will meet later this month. Lord Griffiths' advice in relation to recent allegations of approaches to New Zealand Captain Stephen Fleming and England player Chris Lewis is for ICC to await the outcome of police investigations being conducted by Scotland Yard.
• The second Under 19 World Cup will be staged in Sri Lanka from 11th-28th January. In addition to the 9 Full Members, Ireland and Holland have qualified from Europe, Bangladesh and Nepal from Asia, Namibia and Kenya will represent the African region and a combined team from Argentina, Bermuda, Canada and USA will represent the Americas region.
• A second inspection of Bangladesh's cricket facilities will be undertaken in early 2000 as part of the review of their application for Test status.

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