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The West Indies cricketers became "targets" for Indian cricket fans yesterday, as several players were struck by missiles before captain Carl Hooper took matters into his hands and left the ground.

The West Indies team left the field after Vasbert Drakes was struck by a bottle and it was later revealed that several other objects, including sand bags, bottles and stones, were hurled at players on and off the field.

"Pedro Collins (not playing in the match) was hit by a small sand bag in the face and afterwards by a stone when he was on the ground," International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Mike Procter said.

"Then Drakes was struck by a water bottle near the midwicket fence. The Collins incident happened in the 16th or 17th overs when West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt brought to my notice that Collins was being targeted by a section of the crowd. The West Indies did not want to play the match once they left the field after Drakes was hit. I completely agreed with them."

Missiles were also hurled at Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels who escaped injuries.

Fearing for the lives of his players, Hooper refused to send his team back on the field after Procter took both teams off when Drakes limped to the middle.

It was the third straight match the West Indies were subjected to hostile behaviour from Indian fans, following bottle-throwing at Jamshedpur and Nagpur.

The West Indies Cricket Board yesterday said it too was concerned about the disturbances and president Wes Hall said that uppermost in his mind was the safety of the players on the West Indies team.

"I am satisfied with the ICC's position that match referee Mike Procter will convene a meeting with the Indian cricket authorities and team manager Ricky Skerritt on the way forward, and I think this meeting will help to alleviate the problems," Hall said.

In reacting to the meleé, the ICC said although it had no authority to remove the international status of a venue, that option was being considered by an imminent meeting of its safety and security committee.

"This is likely to include the ultimate sanction of withdrawing international status from a ground, combined with a heavy financial penalty," chief executive officer Malcolm Speed said.

"The ICC . . . is now in the process of seeking a full explanation of today's unacceptable events in Rajkot. In addition, we have asked for details of the ground stewarding and security plans for the next four matches."

The match was awarded to India on the basis of the Duckworth/Lewis method after play was stopped with India on 200 for 1 in the 28th over, chasing a target of 301.

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