MCC plans private prosecution
of pitch invader

The cricket establishment at Lord's is planning a private prosecution of Alistair Dobson, the Australian who was released by the police without charge after invading the pitch and accosting Sachin Tendulkar following his dismissal in the first Test against England on Sunday.

Officials at the England and Wales Cricket Board were said to be furious at the decision of the police which has severely affected their new "Keep off the Pitch" campaign.

After meetings between ECB chief executive Tim Lamb and MCC president Roger Knight, MCC announced they are considering bringing a private prosecution.

However, there was no complaint from Tendulkar himself, who said on Monday that he wished no further action to be taken against Dobson.

"He was not rude," the Indian batsman said.

According to the maestro, all that Dobson said was: "Don't worry. You are the greatest and my hero."

The 24-year-old Dobson was arrested for aggravated trespass, but released without charge as he was not carrying a weapon and made no verbal threat to Tendulkar.

"There is deemed to be insufficient evidence to proceed under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act," media reports in England said.

ECB's policy of prosecuting pitch invaders was brought in after incidents during last summer's NatWest Series. In the five previous cases, charges of "aggravated trespass" were brought under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

But the law requires some kind of "threatening behaviour" to be present in such cases. Dobson was polite to Tendulkar, and lax stewarding meant he was not forced to evade arrest, which puts MCC in a difficult position, reports said.

England captain Nasser Hussain was critical of security arrangements yesterday, saying: "When idiots like that walk on, someone should come on to the field and quietly escort them away. We waited for a long time."

But he added: "I don't think we should make the greatest ground in the world into a cage."

Lamb also held emergency talks with Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for culture, media and sports in an effort to bring in stringent legislation to prevent pitch invasion and protect players from intruders.

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