Agreed Milo, but what ? This will go off at a tangent a bit, for which I apologise but.......

I was there at Trent Bridge when Steve Waugh rightly took the Aussies off. I think it was Lee who was just missed by one object thrown by a spectator, and then I saw someone throw something which missed a St John's Ambulance volunteer (a volunteer, for crying out loud !!!) by a matter of inches........had a young lad sitting a couple of rows behind me, supporting Pakistan and all he could say was words to the effect of

"F****** Aussies they're f****** pussies, they've only f****** gone off 'cos they're f****** losing. I've aid f****** good money for these tickets and they've f****** gone off".....if you catch my drift......" ......the eloquence and intelligence in the remarks spoke volumes.

When I suggested that if everyone simply calmed down it would only be a matter of minutes before everyone came back on the field and Pakistan would be able to complete their well deserved victory.......he tried to lauch himself at me and lamp me one. Thankfully I was with a few mates who resembled a brick wall who stopped him before he could do any damage to himself but that attitude was typical of what was seen on the day.

I've been attacked, physically, by Indian fans for supporting England at the England/India game in the 1999 World Cup.......my crime ? Cheering when Thorpey took three fours off a Srinath over.

Such behaviour is unacceptable, what should be done about it ? Should runs be docked, innings forfeited, matches forfeited ? Yes, the actions of the few will always end up in the sensible majority being punished unfairly, but life's like that. It happens every day in the real world, maybe cricket should be no different.

Could it ? I don't recall too many incidents of trouble at any NZ matches in the last 20 years..........

I did say "just about all". People in New Zealand prefer rugby anyway.

Isn't that true of South Africans too ?

I agree, Milo.

The behaviour of those idiots in Leeds towards Saj Mahmood unfortunately tarred the majority of good Pakistan supporters. ANd in much the same way that England had to deal with the minority of idiotic football supporters that gave the rest of them a bad name, something needs to be done to tackle the minority that are giving the majority of Pakistani fans a bad name.

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Nobody has a batting stance quite like the mighty Shivnarine....

You mean the rugby thing? Actually no. According to latest stats, SAfricans prefer football, then cricket. And rugby comes in at 3.

Favourite SAfrican sportsman for the FIRST time ever was a cricketer, and not a soccer player. Player selected? Ntini.

The crowds at Pretoria were very disappointing....

How is Cricket South Africa going to get non-whites interested in attending cricket matches?

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Nobody has a batting stance quite like the mighty Shivnarine....

Now that this has turned into a more general discussion about bad crowd behaviour, I’d like to add in my thoughts again. I see some people remarked they have not heard of any occurrences of bad crowd behavior in NZ. I’ll have to assume then they did not follow the last Chapel Hadlee series. Ricky Ponting complained vehemently about bad crowd behavior back then which if I’m not wrong was only last year and I can't recall if any of the matches were stopped for a duration or not, but I have a vivid recollection of having read reports of food items and boots being thrown at players, Brett Lee I think it was, to be particular. Will add a link to confirm as I find it.

Also, just as an observation, I note that all the complain about bad behavior from Pakistan supporters on this thread come from regions outside Pakistan, particularly from our following base in England. I have been to several of the recent ODI matches in Karachi, and yes, a lot of the crowd were way too hyperactive for my liking (public singing and dancing is really not my idea of entertainment, but that's my personal preference, not a criticism) but no signs of any racism or unruly behavior towards the players or fellow spectators.

If you have gun men standing right in front you for the entire duration of the match, which them selves lie ahead of a international border styled wall of fixed wires, there is little you can do in term so unruly behavior. Perhaps that's what authorities could look to do else where; it definitely cuts out a big chunk of charm, but its affective.

More then this though I find is thought provoking that Pakistani based abroad seem more likely to resort to such behavior (it would seem) then those back home, perhaps there is reason here to explore why this disparity exists? And if indeed attitudes in the adopted homes of these Pakistani might have contributed to them having turned to such low levels.

The same way we'll get white people interested in attending a Sowetan derby.

If you dunno what that is, try googlin'...

The problem is that if Cricket South Africa continues to rely on their white population to pack their stands, they are going to be as sparse as the matches have been at every venue this summer, bar Cape Town. Somehow, the authorities are going to have to figure a way of selling cricket to the majority of South Africans.

If not, the day will come, say ten years down the line, when Bangladesh will have a better team than South Africa, simply because more of Bangladesh's population is interested in cricket than South Africa's.

And yes, Zainub, the West Indies have crowds that have behaved naughtily from time to time....

It was very ugly to hear people talking negatively about West Indian crowds after those incidents. It is so important to nip them in the bud.

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Nobody has a batting stance quite like the mighty Shivnarine....