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ICC gets tough on safety at grounds

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said today that grounds which fail to guarantee the safety of players and umpires could be stripped of their international status.

The sanction was among measures, approved by the ICC's executive board at a meeting in Dubai during the weekend, which are aimed at improving security at cricket grounds.

''The ICC has been concerned at the growing number of incidents of this nature,'' ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya said in a statement.

Australia's tour of the West Indies in March and April was marred by crowd trouble in Bridgetown, and several teams at the World Cup, in Britain, during May and June, were angry at dangerous pitch invasions by hundreds of boisterous fans.

''International cricket should be played at all times free of unwelcome crowd invasions onto the ground and the risk of objects being thrown at players or umpires,'' said Dalmiya.

Dalmiya said ICC member countries have been asked to develop an effective alcohol management plan, which may include a ban on bottles and cans being taken into grounds.

National cricket boards would be asked to meet governments to seek legislation to deal with crowd invasions and with spectators who threw missiles.

''The power of the ICC match referee will be extended to report on instances where the ICC safety policy is violated,'' he added.

''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,'' said Dalmiya.

At its Dubai meeting, the ICC also decided to consider increasing the number of teams at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa from 12 to 14.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Bangladesh and Kenya will participate in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) mini World Cup, to be held in Nairobi next year.

The ICC its Dubai meeting decided to allow the two non-Test playing countries to participate in the October 5 to 15, 2000, tournament along with the nine Test-playing nations.

The 1998 tournament in Dhaka was limited to Test playing nations.

UNI