BCA probing flare-up

The Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) says it will investigate why a second division match between Police and the St George team United Sports Club (USC) ended in flaring tempers and the arrest of the USC captain last Saturday.“We received a report from United Sports Club about the match, and we will investigate,” the BCA’s cricket operations manager Rollins Howard told the WEEKEND NATION.According to Howard, the BCA’s complaints committee will deal with the matter. However, he was not sure how soon a decision would be reached.USC’s Anderson Worrell, who was at the non-striker’s end when the match at the Byde Mill cricket ground in St George ended in disarray, filed a report on the happenings. Umpires Trevor Davis and Douglas Walton also took notes on the developments and were expected to file a report.The match ended abruptly at about 6:15 p.m., with United Sports Club members accusing the visiting lawmen of acting contrary to the spirit and rules of the game by peppering batsmen with short-pitched deliveries in the fading light.Spectators said there was a confrontation involving United Sports Club’s captain Herbert Gittens and fast bowler Steve Brathwaite after Gittens faced another short-pitched delivery.One of the Police team’s players allegedly knocked down Gittens, who was later arrested by police summoned to the ground, taken to the Boarded Hall Police Station and charged.After spending about seven hours in police custody, Gittens was released. He appeared in the Boarded Hall Magistrate’s Court Monday to answer two charges: assaulting a police officer and threatening to shoot a police officer.That case continues October 27.The match ended abruptly after just three balls were bowled in the 23rd over, with United Sports Club on 102 for eight and needing another 30 runs to win, but with both Gittens and Worrell complaining about difficulty in “picking up” the ball in the fading light.Spectators said that one of the sour points of the match came earlier, when USC’s Romario Brathwaite, whose age was given as 13 or 14, batted without a helmet and faced some short-pitched deliveries from the lawmen.At that point, USC players, including Gittens, accused the lawmen of “low” sportmanship.