Cricket
Laser: Aussies say sorry
2009-01-14 23:15
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Blinded by the light (Gallo Images)
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Christo BuchnerMelbourne. – Cricket Australia have formally apologised to the South African cricket camp after a laser light was flashed into Wayne Parnell’s face as he was positioning himself for a catch.
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Parnell missed the relatively easy catch. It would not have had a significant influence on the outcome of Tuesday’s Twenty20 game.
The Aussies won the second Twenty20 game by six wickets and the series 2-0.
The laser-incident happened in the 18th over when Michael Hussey hit the ball to deep mid-off. It was repeated on TV afterwards,
Cricket Australia spokesperson Peter Young told ABC-TV it was “not in the spirit of the game … and stupid”.
“Cricket Australia apologised to the Proteas because they are our guests. They accepted the apology.”
“We will approach the police about the maximum possible punishment. If we find out who it was, we will come down on that person in a big way. We are trying to establish whether we can charge the guilty parties,” cricinfo.com quoted Young as saying.
South African coach Mickey Arthur said the dropped catch could not be blamed on the laser pen.
“We don’t want to make a big deal of it. It’s minor as far as we’re concerned. There will be no formal complaint. We have full confidence in the ability of Cricket Australia to solve the problem and will just concentrate on our cricket.
“We know spectators the world over. Not even our own spectators and fans back home are always angels. Spectators sometimes do things that cause problems.
“It will be a pity if a great series between ourselves and Australia is ruined by bad behaviour.”