“Ministerial Security Division (MSD) guards assigned to protect the players carried out the arrest and the three women were handed over to the Kollupitiya police station for further investigations,” said the police in a statement.
Hotel sources said the women were guests of Gayle and teammates Andre Russell, Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Smith. The officials insisted there was no breach of security at the tightly guarded seventh floor reserved for players and team officials.
“There was no wrongdoing on the part of the players or the women and we are surprised at the police action,” said a hotel official. “It is not against the law to be a guest of a player.”
There was no immediate comment from the International Cricket Council (ICC) or the West Indies team and police sources were awaiting instructions to establish if they should press charges. The authorities had declared floors occupied by cricketers as out-of-bounds as part of security for players during the September 18-October 7 tournament that was billed as the same level as for visiting heads of state.
NZ unhappy with Super Over rule
Meanwhile, the ICC’s decision to use a Super Over for non-knockout matches has been questioned by New Zealand coach Mike Hesson.
New Zealand tied two of their Super Eight matches – against Sri Lanka and the West Indies – but lost both in the Super Over and, with their defeat against England, lost out on a place in the semi-finals.
“We lost a couple of key moments,” said Hesson. “You know, we were two runs away from being top of the pool and being the top qualifier.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2012.
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