Sightscreen collapses at Nehru Stadium, no one hurt

The sightscreen at the north end of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here fell down after coming off the railings on which it was mounted, to add to the difficulties of the organisers of the third ODI between India and Australia.

Margao : The sightscreen at the north end of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here fell down after coming off the railings on which it was mounted, to add to the difficulties of the organisers of the third and final ODI between India and Australia on Sunday . Although the one-dayer was finally abandoned due to an unplayable wet outfield but there was quite a bit of drama to entertain the packed stadium due to the collapsing of the sightscreen.Fortunately, no one was in front of it when it came crashing down. The incident was sandwiched between the two inspections of the ground conducted by umpires Billy Bowden and Amish Saheba.

The sightscreen was made upright and supported by ropes tied to the first row of the press gallery, but the incident put a question mark on the preparations of the Goa Cricket Association for the match. The tarpaulin covers were also clearly inadequate even though they covered the major part of the ground. A capacity holiday crowd of 27,000 sat through all this rigmarole, entertaining itself by unfurling the Mexican wave, banging drums and blowing the vuvuzela. The Cricket Board (BCCI), who has decided at a working committee meeting not to award any international matches to centres not having their own stadium, is yet to implement it. Goa is one such centre that do not have its own ground, though GCA has acquired land on lease for constructing its own stadium from the state government at Tivim in the northern part of the State. PTI