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London: One of the oldest traditions in cricket is threatened thissummer as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) considers putting anend to award ceremonies at the end of matches."That is obviously an option if players cannot be safe even at an eventlike that," a spokeswoman from the ECB said.A decision will be taken soon following a series of meetings this weekahead of the Ashes series between England and Australia. The move beingconsidered is in line with suggestions put forward by the Australians,after someone hurled a beer can on to the balcony at Lord's after thefinal of the NatWest series. The beer can hit Michael Bevan on thecheek.One of the options being considered is moving end-of-the-matchpresentations indoors with live telecast on screens on the ground, thespokeswoman said. That will end the tradition going back more than acentury of fans running on to the field and gathering below the balconyto cheer the awards.There has never been this kind of trouble in an Ashes series. But ECBofficials are reluctant to put separate sets of security rules intoplace depending on which country is playing.Five Ashes Tests will be played in England over the next three months,with the first at Edgbaston in Birmingham from July 9. Model securitymeasures will be taken ahead of this Test."We'll be having a full review of the NatWest tournament, which willinclude presentation ceremonies," Tim Lamb, chief executive of the ECBsaid in a statement.IANS
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