Cricket turns nasty

By Phil Long With the Barmy Army in India

So, the one-dayer at Guwahati won't be remembered for a thrilling England win, a marvellous century or a match-winning bowling effort.

Fire on the terraces at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati

Instead, after the violence that broke out as local supporters waited and waited in vain to see some play, Guwahati finds itself an unwanted place in cricket history.

But being honest, the frustrations felt by many of the crowd in Guwahati spoke volumes for the way cricket fans are treated at the one-day games in India.

There is a volatile mix of thousands of students, predominantly male, wanting to make their frustrations known and a feeling of discontent is always bubbling under the surface.

Fortunately, the winning start Rahul Dravid's side have made to this one-day series has kept many of those frustrations in check, but as we sat in the sun at Guwahati they came very much to the fore.

Although an outbreak of violence is, of course, impossible to condone, spending time on the terraces at these one-day matches, it is easy to see why things boiled over in such a dramatic and violent way.

The recent wet weather in Guwahati meant that all approaches to the ground were ankle deep in mud and, although the police checks at the gate weren't as stringent here as they might have been, queuing for two hours or more to get inside the Nehru Stadium was pretty much the norm.

This is considered par for the course and isn't usually a problem when your heroes are waiting to entertain you inside.

On the streets outside the ground afterwards the mood was perfectly calm

But it soon became apparent that play certainly wouldn't start on time and even the appearance of an army helicopter, and the subsequent farcical scenes of each and every one of the boundary hoardings being blown away in a trail of destruction, only papered over the creeping discontentment of the crowd.

Without a single announcement made over the PA, we saw the umpires come and go on numerous occasions and even the players wander out to the middle for a look at the wicket and the outfield.

I'm not sure what sparked off the initial trouble but certainly where I was perched it wasn't the result of any tannoy announcement as there simply hadn't been any.

Only when the first advertising hoardings were being ripped from their frames to be used as material for the on-terrace fires that followed was a plea of 'Please be patient' made - and ignored.

After that, the whole thing snowballed and although I later found out that some injuries occurred I never felt in any particular danger.

India's captain and coach inspect the conditions

This feeling was reinforced by the local police who instead of tackling the trouble head on found it inconveniently coincided with their lunch break.

So we witnessed the somewhat surreal sight of the local constabulary munching contentedly on their lunch as chaos ruled around them.

Only when the outfield was covered in bricks and bits of wood - all in ready supply thanks to the unfinished nature of some stadia in India - did it become clear that the trip north to the north-eastern state of Assam would become a wasted one.

On the streets outside the ground afterwards the mood was perfectly calm.

The local supporters had made their feelings known and had trooped off home to continue their lives leaving no indication on the streets that a riot taken place.

All in all, a strange end to a strange day.