Captains unite in call for improved ground security

Rival captains Alec Stewart and Waqar Younis both called for improved security at cricket matches following the pitch invasion at Headingley which left a steward injured in hospital and led to England conceding defeat.

The steward, Stephen Speight, was carried off the ground on a stretcher and taken to hospital. He suffered broken ribs and a damaged spleen as spectators poured on to the outfield with Pakistan still needing four runs to win.

The scenes echoed those at Edgbaston ten days earlier when play eventually restarted after 30 minutes but at Headingley England skipper Stewart felt he had no option other than to concede defeat in order to protect his players.

Stewart said: "It's the first time it's (conceding defeat) happened in my career. To me it was the only option we had. Players' and umpires' safety is paramount and when you see scenes repeated what more can you do?

"The ECB made various points to try to put into place but there didn't seem too much difference from Edgbaston.

"The only thing I felt I could do as captain of England in this game was to protect my players, the umpires and the two Pakistan batsmen.

"I mentioned to the ECB something along the lines of a £5,000 fine - I said that after the Edgbaston game.

"In Australia they have the biggest crowds and you can count on one hand the number of people who come on to their field in the times I've played there."

Stewart added: "With three overs and about 15 runs required people came over the fence and nothing was done about it.

"It's a very sad day for English cricket. Unfortunately the headlines are not going to be about a wonderful ten overs bowled by Waqar Younis. It was a magnificent spell of bowling.

"Players' safety and umpires' safety is the important thing. Ground authorities have surely got to guarantee that and it hasn't been guaranteed.

"Australian captain Steve Waugh mentioned it before the tournament and before the World Cup.

"It was pretty obvious we couldn't go back out there (after the pitch invasion). We'd been beaten fairly and squarely but to actually concede a game over other issues is not what it's all about."

Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, man of the match for his seven-wicket haul, added: "The ECB should do something about it. I don't know what they should do about it but they should have more security.

"It's very dangerous thing, with what happened to the steward. It's not very pleasing.

"Here in England they don't have fences, but back in Asia they have big fences and they can't really get in. They have to do something like that here because Asian teams are going to come here quite often."

John Read, the ECB's director of corporate affairs, said: "We need to speak to the match referee and police to find out what the precise circumstances were. We will be speaking to them very shortly.

"We need to look into what happened, not jump to any hasty conclusions and then come up with some action.

"After Edgbaston we made some announcements about positive initiatives. Clearly we need to be looking at those again and the possibility of others to see what we can try to do prevent this happening again.

"It detracts from the whole spectacle of the game but it's too early to say what action we can take.

"There's no doubt we'll be taking this issue extremely seriously. We've got to sit down and have a long, hard think about the best way of ensuring player, crowd and umpire safety in the future.

"The first thing that's most important is ensuring the safety of everyone inside the ground."

The issue will be discussed when ECB chief executive Tim Lamb and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Speed meet at Lord's tomorrow.

ACB spokesman Brian Murgatroyd said: "They were going to have a meeting anyway but obviously this will now be on the agenda."

The next game in the series is at Trent Bridge on Tuesday when Australia meet Pakistan in a day-night encounter.