‘Bullring’ security beefed up
CRICKET’S most notorious venue, “The Bullring”, is set to double its usual security presence for David Warner and Steve Smith’s return to Africa.
Following the vile events of 2018, the Australian duo have been urged to report any personal abuse from the crowd to umpires in tonight’s T20, with stadium management declaring a range of hi-tech cameras and a beefed-up security team dubbed “The Men In Black” are ready to zero in on fans who cross the line.
“If it’s of a personal nature, we will deal with it. We have eight LED cameras around the stadium which can zoom in 30 times. We can zoom into that mole on your face,” stadium manager Cyril Martin said.
“We then have the action guys, The Men In Black we call them. They will move in quietly and position themselves [around the offending fan]. If he persists, we have a zero-tolerance rule. We will evict him.”
Organisers are expecting a sellout at The Wanderers, a ground with a reputation as the most vicious in world cricket, with Ben Stokes, Merv Hughes and Imran Tahir among those to have taken matters into their own hands in reacting to crowd abuse over the years.
In Cape Town in 2018, the day before the ball-tampering incident occurred, Warner clashed with a fan who got in his face and abused him as he came off the field, and in the two previous Test matches his wife was the victim of despicable attacks.
The Wanderers usually has 20 security staff stationed around the perimeter of the ground, but it’s understood that will be beefed up significantly tonight to as much as 35 or 40 guarding the arena.
Martin revealed that if Warner or Smith make a complaint to umpires, a sophisticated action plan will kick into gear which will pinpoint abusive fans and evict them.
“We’ve increased the number of personnel on the perimeter. The security guard is the buffer between the spectator and the player. If he hears anything, [he’s been told] be proactive and send a message to the [control] room, and say, ‘listen we have a potential problem here’,” Martin said.
Martin chaired a security meeting on Monday, where he invited Australian team security to outline any concerns on their part.
It is understood Australia is happy with the measures that have been put in place.