Two spectators have been ejected from the World Test Championship final after allegedly abusing the New Zealand team, according to tweets by an ICC official.
Claire Furlong, the ICC’s general manager – marketing and communications, was tagged into a tweet alerting her to “a patron yelling abuse at the NZ team”.
“There’s been some pretty inappropriate stuff throughout the day, including reports of racist abuse directed at LRPL Taylor,” tweeted Dominic da Souza. Da Souza later clarified that he wasn’t in attendance at the game, but could hear the comments being shouted on the television coverage, with the reduced crowd allowing for a single voice to be heard more clearly.
@ClaireFurlong14 @ICCMediaComms hey folks, is there anyone at the ground taking note of crowd behaviour? There is a patron yelling abuse at the NZ team. There's been some pretty inappropriate stuff throughout the day, including reports of racist abuse directed at LRPL Taylor.
— Dominic da Souza Correa (@teddypaton) June 22, 2021
Furlong later stated that action had been taken. “Two individuals have been identified and removed from the venue for their conduct,” she tweeted.
The ICC have taken action against two people in the crowd today. https://t.co/sKBDfcxXX5
— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) June 22, 2021
“We received reports of abuse directed at the New Zealand players,” said an ICC spokesperson. “Our security team were able to identify the culprits and they were ejected from the ground. We will not tolerate any sort of abusive behaviour in cricket.”
While there were some suggestions that some of the abuse was racial in nature, this is unconfirmed.
Spectator abuse has been an issue in cricket on several occasions recently. The third Test between Australia and India at the SCG was paused while a group of spectators were ejected following reports of abuse made by Mohammad Siraj, while on England’s tour of New Zealand in 2019, Jofra Archer reported being racially abused by a crowd member.
