Rioters, pedant force draw

Press, 6 May 1978, Page 56

Rioters, pedant force draw

NZPA Kingston, Jamaica A controversial and unique cricket series died a sad and painful death at Sabina Park yesterday when the fifth test between Australia and the West Indies was sabotaged by rioting Jamaicans and a pedantic umpire.

Despite agreements by both captains, Bob Simpson and Alvin Kallicharran, and the West Indies Cricket Board of Control that the game should be completed, not one of the 62 balls still to be bowled was delivered. As a result Australia was stranded a centimetre from victory, and the West Indies won back the Frank Worrell Trophy by an unprecedented (margin of three tests to one. | One of the umpires, Mr Ralph Gosein, who stood in

all five tests, refused to offi-| ciate yesterday. All other: officials had agreed the; night before to play the) game to its conclusion on) the sixth day, after specta-) tors throwing rocks and bot-1 ties had halted the match on! the fifth evening when the, West Indies were 258 for! nine and on the brink of, defeat. Mr Gosein took the stand that the match could not continue into the sixth day, because it had been agreed the game should be played over five days. He rejected an appeal from the Jamaican representatives of the W.1.C.8.C., Messrs Allan Rael and Esmond Kentish, to allow the match to finish because of the exceptional circumstances.

Technically, Mr Gosein’s interpretation of the law

• )was correct, but Mr Rae ar■gued that the spirit of the •I law was more important rthan the wording. i! Mr Gosein, who had no • intention of coming to the -Iground until an armed police i) escort was sent to collect j him half an hour after the -'scheduled starting time, f,stood firm. When the standby umpire, I Mr Johnny Gayle, also re- : fused to officiate, the board , had no option but to abanI don the match as a draw. 1 The Austraians were I upset and angry to be dei nied the chance of winning : the match, as they believed si they would have without dii fficulty. i The manager, Mr Fred I Bennett, said they believed they were a better side than ; the current West Indian ' team.

“We’d beaten them decisively in one test and gone down in another, and we regarded this game as a decider as far as these two teams were concerned. “We were in a position to win the game and it comes as a great disappointment that a crowd acting as it did yesterday forced a match to be abandoned and denied one team the right to win.”