Wasim furious as hospitality hits Pakistan practice (8 June 1999)

8 June 1999

Wasim furious as hospitality hits Pakistan practice

Michael Henderson

The recent skirmishes between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir have heightened rivalry to such an extent that the security operation for today's World Cup Super Six game at Old Trafford is on red alert.

But Wasim Akram, the Pakistan captain, was not thinking of crowd trouble. Nor was he thinking of the injuries that may keep Ijaz Ahmed and Yousuf Youhana out of a game Pakistan must win to assuage the defeat by South Africa last Saturday. He was trying to conceal his anger that, on the best-equipped Test ground in England, his players were unable to practise properly the day before such an important match.

Wasim, who spent nine years with Lancashire before leaving at the end of last season, could not disguise his concern at the lack of adequate facilities at this World Cup. Last week the Pakistanis found an indoor school at Northampton closed because there were sponsors to accommodate, and yesterday, when heavy rain drove the players inside, Old Trafford proved no better.

The six-lane indoor school at the Stretford End of the ground, which opened two years ago at a cost of £1.2 million, is regarded as the best of its kind in the country. It was designed for such days, yet it had been given over entirely to a corporate hospitality area.

Jim Cumbes, Lancashire's chief executive, said the arrangements made for sponsors, who will be entertained today in a marquee-type space, could not be revised at so late an hour.

Wasim, frustrated that his men could not use the facilities in a manner for which they were intended, was hopping mad. "It's absolutely ridiculous," he said. "If this sort of thing had happened in Pakistan, to players from other countries, we would never hear the end of it."

Pakistan's wretched morning did not end there. Upon being directed to an indoor school a mile away in Trafford Park, they took one look at the antiquated net area and promptly returned to the ground, where the rain had turned the outfield into a series of lakes, denying them the opportunity of doing some gentle exercises.

While Wasim was fuming, and the Indians were resting in their city centre hotel, Cumbes, having announced the highest police presence for a match at Old Trafford, was talking to Raman Subba Row, the match referee appointed by the International Cricket Council. They were joined by Alan Hutchings, the experienced commander of police operations at the other Old Trafford, half a mile up the road.

Nobody has greater experience of the game's flashpoints than Subba Row, who was the referee in Bridgetown two months ago when Sherwin Campbell was recalled to the crease to pacify a crowd angry that their local favourite had been run out against Australia. On that occasion he had to persuade Sir Garfield Sobers to address the crowd before play could resume.

Subba Row was the referee when these teams met at Bangalore three years ago in the last World Cup, a game India won by 39 runs after Wasim pulled out on the day of the match with a shoulder injury. When Wasim returned to Lahore he found angry mobs outside his house, accusing him of throwing the game, and there were effigies of him burned in the streets.

It will help Subba Row that the umpires standing in today's match, David Shepherd and Steve Bucknor, are the most experienced in the world. They also stood in Bangalore, and neither man will flinch at the prospect of doing his duty. They enjoy the respect of the players, and will live up to the umpires' creed, "without fear or favour".

Before the Bangalore match, Subba Row said he summoned the captains "and told them it was important to communicate to the crowd that all the players were good friends, which they are. There is nothing false or shallow about that. They are good mates, and they must get that across".

He added: "I think there is a mixed Asian population in Manchester, which is a help. In some places it is more one-sided. But I shall underline to the captains that this, of all matches, is not the one to go over the top."

The teams have met in 74 one-day internationals across the world, most recently in Sharjah when Pakistan won each of their three games. Never before have they met in England in an official match, although unofficial fixtures in Harrogate, Uxbridge and at Crystal Palace have been ruined by crowd misbehaviour.

Three years ago, the final of the World Under-15 tournament between the countries at Lord's was interrupted twice by spectators, before India completed a four-wicket victory.

Cumbes said 80 per cent of the tickets for today's match had been sold before the competition began and there would, therefore, be plenty of neutrals in the crowd.

"This is only a cricket match," he said, and was swift to reasssure spectators that "we want people to enjoy the match, but to be orderly about it".

Pakistan (from): Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Salim Malik, -Moin Khan, *Wasim Akram, Azhar Mahmood, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Wajahatullah Wasti.

India (from): S C Ganguly, S R Tendulkar, R S Dravid, A D Jadeja, *M Azharuddin, R R Singh, -N R Mongia, J Srinath, A Kumble, B K V Prasad, D S Mohanty, S Ramesh, A B Agarkar.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph