Mexican waves will be banned at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the ground’s old Bay 13 area singled out for alcohol restrictions as cricket authorities crack down on hooliganism.

AAP14-Jan-2002Mexican waves will be banned at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the ground’s old Bay 13 area singled out for alcohol restrictions as cricket authorities crack down on hooliganism.A meeting of top police, senior politicians and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) today reacted to the weekend’s hooliganism, agreeing to tough new restrictions.ACB chief James Sutherland said crowd behaviour at the MCG was among the worst in the world and putting future international cricket matches in Melbourne atrisk.The International Cricket Council (ICC) had written to the ACB at the weekend expressing concern about crowd behaviour.”That’s a harsh reminder for us that the bar has lifted in terms of the standards expected of international cricket venues and if things don’t improve at the MCG then it will come under increased scrutiny as a viable venue for international cricket,” Sutherland said.Under the crackdown, wine and spirits will be banned from the lower level of the Southern Stand (the old Bay 13 area) and only light beer served.Purchases in that area will be reduced from a four-cup limit to two cups, which will be smaller in size.Anyone detected throwing items or starting the Mexican Wave – an almost guaranteed crowd diversion at any international one day fixture – throughout the ground will be automatically evicted.The tough stand follows a weekend of hooliganism during two matches at the MCG which resulted in 36 arrests and nearly 500 expulsions.Play was held up for 10 minutes during Friday night’s match after objects were thrown at New Zealand fielders.New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming today warned a thrown piece of fruit may be enough for him to stop a one-day international for safety reasons in thefuture.Fleming, in Hobart preparing for tomorrow’s clash with South Africa, was still perturbed by Friday night’s missile throwing and promised “zero tolerance” if there was any repeat of the incident.”There’s been too many close calls for us to accept it’s part and parcel of the one-day game,” Fleming said.”A player is going to get hurt and if it’s a bottle in the head, which was close to us the other night, that’s going to be serious.”(Australian captain) Steve Waugh missed one as well, very close to his head.”As players we don’t need that, we’re entertainers, not there to be targets. Zero tolerance is the way to go.”Fleming said that meant if objects were thrown at his players, and even a bit of fruit might be enough, he would call them into the middle and would consider walking off.Sydney Cricket Ground authorities said they would not change their normal safety procedures for Thursday’s Australia-New Zealand match in the wake of theweekend’s trouble in Melbourne.But they may look to increase police numbers in anticipation of a bigger than usual crowd.Ticket sales for the match have been higher than expected after the Kiwis’ strong start to the one-day series.