By IANS,
Melbourne : Pakistan Sports Minister Aijaz Hussein Jakhrani has asked Cricket Australia (CA) to set up barriers at grounds and ban alcohol following the Khalid Latif incident.
Latif was tackled by a spectator in the fifth and last One-day International (ODI) at WACA in Perth Sunday.
Jakhrani has told Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt to raise the issue with CA and said if he was not satisfied with its response, he would go directly to his counterpart, federal Sports Minister Stephen Smith.
“The thing that really worried me, what if that person had a knife, he got there and could have done anything he wanted,” Jakhrani was quoted as saying in The Age Tuesday.
“They should ban alcohol at grounds. There should be some kind of barrier or restriction to stop people entering the ground.
“This is the right time to think about these things. It is no good waiting for someone to die before making decisions.”
The International Cricket Council (ICC) sent a terse letter to CA, asking for an explanation into the incident, which resulted in a 37-year-old man being charged with assault.
“We are disappointed, there was a clear security breach and an international player was brought down,” an ICC spokesman said.
ICC president David Morgan said the incident was “not a good look for the game.”
Latif was interviewed by police in the WACA Ground dressing room after the match, and later expressed his disappointment at the security lapse.
Grounds in the sub-continent have barbed wire fences dividing players from spectators, which has prevented the ground invasions that are frustratingly common during the Australian summer.
Jakhrani added: “I have told the cricket board chairman that he should take it up with the Australian cricket board, this is not on. Let’s wait and see what they say, otherwise I can definitely take it up with my counterpart in Australia.”
CA and the WACA Monday asked for heftier fines to be imposed by the West Australian government as a deterrent, but offered no explanation as to how the spectator was able to reach Latif despite a large contingent of security guards patrolling the boundary.