10 most embarrassing crowd moments in the cricketing history

Dec 13, 2017 at 8:23 PM

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10 most embarrassing crowd moments in the cricketing history

Spectators at cricket matches are generally known to give a polite round of applause to mark a boundary, emit the odd ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ if a ball whizzes past the edge of the bat, and pay respect saying “Well played, sir!” if a batsman gets dismissed after a wonderful innings.

But far from the stereotypical image of spectators at a cricket match who respectfully applaud in between sips of Earl Grey tea, Sportzwiki looks at ten shocking incidents in cricket’s history when warming a plastic seat all day just wasn’t enough.

Symonds unleashes a harsh tackle

During a One Day international match against India in Brisbane back in 2008, a fan dressed in absolutely nothing stopped the play as he invaded the pitch to complete a lap of honour around the ground.

But little did he know that running in the direction of Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds was probably the single biggest mistake he would make in his whole life.

Symonds, who used to train with a rugby club in the off-season, finally ended the streaker’s joy run with a classic rugby crash tackle that left the pitch invader flat on his back.

Jamshedpur witnessed shameful act

It was in 2002. Jamshedpur’s Keenan Stadium was the scene of ugly crowd unrest during an ODI between India and the West Indies.

With the visitors requiring only 12 more runs to chase down an imposing total, a portion of the crowd started to throw bottles on to the pitch, light fires in the stands and even ripped apart advertising boards.

As the umpires and players rushed to the dressing room for safety, the match was abandoned for security reasons with the Windies winning through Duckworth-Lewis.

Ashes controversy in Sydney

The seventh and final match of the 1971 Ashes in Sydney was almost abandoned mid-way through due to crowd brawl.

It was the second day of the match and England fast bowler John Snow brought upon all the wrath of the home crowd as he hit tailender Terry Jenner on the head with a bouncer which forced Jenner to retire hurt.

A drunk man from the crowd suddenly grabbed Snow when he returned to his fielding position next to the boundary, sparking a melee. Beer cans were also thrown towards the England players as skipper Ray Illingworth decided to lead his team off the field.

But in the end, 190 people were ejected from the stadium and 14 fans were even arrested for offensive behaviour, and the match continued.

When Chapell busted a streaker

There are many ways a player can deal with an attention-seeking streaker who tries to disrupt a cricket match. Andrew Symonds showed us one way with a typical rugby tackle.

Another Aussie, Greg Chappell, displayed the world a slightly more humorous way of dealing with streakers during a Test match against New Zealand in 1977.

Obviously fed-up by what was the third pitch-invader to have interrupted the match, Chappell decided to take matters into his own hands as he finally chased the nubile man, grabbed him, and started to spank him with his bat on the backside.

Eden Gardens witnessed World Cup woes

At 98 for the loss of 2 wickets, India were quite well positioned in the 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens to chase down Sri Lanka’s decent total of 252 and secure their place in the finals.

But, a dramatic collapse saw them reduced to 120-8, prompting the so-called respectable Eden Gardens crowd to vent their frustration – they set fire to large sections of the stands and hurled homemade missiles onto the playing area.

As things were going out of control, officials were left with few options but to abandon the semi-final and award the victory to Sri Lanka.

Fighting among the crowd halts play 

 

A match is usually disrupted when the crowd gets involved with the players in one unsavoury way or another.

But things took a slightly different turn during a One-Day International match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium last year.

The match had to be stopped for a while during Sri Lanka’s chase when fighting broke out between two sections of the crowd. Objects including rocks were thrown back and forth between the quarrelling sides and it wasn’t until police brought the situation under control did play resume in the middle.

1879’s Sydney riot

The first recorded incident of crowd trouble in a cricket match dates all the way back to 1879 when a match between a touring English side and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground was abandoned due to pitch invading.

When star Australian batsmen Billy Murdoch was controversially given out by umpire George Coulthard, more than 2,000 spectators stormed onto the field and assaulted the umpire as well as some of the English players.

A controversial run-out at the wrong time

A Cricketing clash between India and Pakistan is never short of a drama but things went a bit too far during an ill-tempered Test match at Kolkata in 1999.

Following Sachin Tendulkar’s controversial run-out at a critical stage of the match, the Pakistani players were pelted by bottles and other objects by the furious Indian crowd. During a three-hour hold-up in the day’s play police and security officials evicted more than 65,000 spectators from the ground.

Inzamam had a go in Toronto

It was quite shocking as Inzamam-ul-Haq got involved with an Indian spectator during an ODI in Toronto back in 1997 when the fan hurled abuse at the Pakistani batsman through a megaphone.

Armed with a bat, Inzy unexpectedly charged into the crowd to get at the fan and it took a host of security staffs and spectators to pull him away. The abusive fan finally escaped with a few bruises and a torn shirt.

Eden’s infamous bloodshed

Surely one of the bloodiest riots in cricket history took place in 1967 when the West Indies played India in a Test match at Eden Gardens.

It was a ticketing error that resulted in more than 20,000 extra fans appeared at the then 60,000 capacity stadium and shortly before the day’s play had even started, fans started to spill onto the field as security officials really struggled to contain the sheer number of people.

A full-out riot followed as spectators were fighting with police and the day’s play was rightfully called off.

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