Government urged to act over violence

The England and Wales Cricket Board is urging the Government to bring in football-style legislation that will mean stiff penalties for spectators who interrupt matches, following Tuesday's disruptions at Trent Bridge.

The game was the third in the triangular NatWest series to be badly affected by crowd disorder. The Australian captain, Steve Waugh, took his players off the field for 18 minutes after a firework landed close to Brett Lee as he fielded near the boundary and the finale was marred by another major pitch invasion, despite the use of a plastic mesh barrier.

The Football Spectators' Bill, which was passed last year, makes it a criminal act for fans to encroach on the pitch, and the ECB's corporate communications manager, David Clarke, said yesterday: "It is the ECB's wish to see legislation brought in by the Government. We are looking for the Government to help us out and give us some of the tools we need to control the kind of issues we have been faced with over the last few days.

"We are not looking for Draconian measures. Nobody wants to see police dogs and huge fences on England's cricket grounds. We are looking for sensible measures and that's the thing we will be pursuing. We need to look at the options but we are having ongoing discussions with the Government."

The Nottinghamshire chief executive, David Collier, said the county would have serious misgivings about staging another potentially explosive one-day international unless the Government acts.

"The security operation was successful, but only just, and we don't think it is fair that the ground authorities should have to put up with that kind of activity," he said.

"The mesh fence held up by stewards worked in that it bought us 15 or 20 extra seconds for the players to get off but we would not want to depend on that kind of measure again in those circumstances. By the next NatWest Series [in 2002] we would want to have support in the form of legislation making people who run on the field of play liable to penalties."

He said firecrackers were a serious worry. "But even with searches on the gate it is difficult to pick them all up," he said.

Some spectators were treated for minor injuries and there was damage to seating. Police made eight arrests inside and outside the ground and it was almost 90 minutes after play finished before crowds in the vicinity were cleared.