The ECB has taken steps to preserve the game’s proud sporting tradition amid growing concern from players and umpires about unruly behaviour, invariably fuelled by alcohol, at Twenty20 Cup matches last season.

The umpires needed a police escort after rain reduced a match in Canterbury to a ten-over farce, Robert Croft objected to personal remarks made against him when Glamorgan played Somerset in Taunton and Nic Pothas, Hampshire’s acting captain, complained that his players were abused in Southgate on an evening when their coach was vandalised and their valuables were stolen from the Middlesex dressing-room.

Isolated incidents such as these were probably inevitable, with a new form of cricket attracting a different kind of spectator, but the ECB was sufficiently worried to set up a working party under Gordon Hollins, its head of events, to find ways of protecting the unique atmosphere of English cricket.

“There was a real concern among the stakeholders that we should extend many of the procedures that are familiar at international games to domestic Twenty20 cricket,” Hollins said. “These include grounds being encouraged to designate an area of the ground as a family enclosure with alcohol restrictions, the ban on the importation of alcohol, greater security concerning pitch access and specially trained stewards to cater for the growing crowds at our domestic matches.

“There will also be a zero-tolerance policy concerning foul language and anyone using racist language shall be subject to prosecution.

“ECB want to ensure that the type of behaviour which caused some unfortunate headlines last summer is not allowed to resurface in cricket during the summer of 2008 and spoil the enjoyment of the majority. We were adamant that we had to be proactive in this area to nip these issues in the bud.”

Rudi Koertzen, the South African umpire, apologised to Kumar Sangakkara for a mistake that deprived him of the chance to reach a double century and snuffed out Sri Lanka’s faint hopes of levelling the series in the second and final Test against Australia in Hobart yesterday.

Sangakkara had made 192 when he was given out caught off a ball from Stuart Clark that struck him on the shoulder and helmet before ballooning to slip and Sri Lanka, chasing an unlikely 507 to win, lost by 96 runs to give Australia their fourteenth successive victory, two short of the record they set between 1999 and 2001.

Brett Lee, the new leader of the Australia attack after the retirement of Glenn McGrath, finished with 16 wickets in the series, while Muttiah Muralitharan could manage only four at 100 runs apiece and needs five more against England next month to break Shane Warne’s record of 708.

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