World Cup venue official tries to play down wall collapse

A CRICKET official in charge of the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai has described Wednesday's wall collapse at the World Cup venue as a "minor" incident.

Hundreds of fans had queued up outside the ground to buy tickets for matches due to take place at the stadium, where England are set to play two group stage matches, when a recently-renovated section of the periphery gave way due to crowd pressure. Two people were reportedly injured in the collapse.

The incident comes barely a week after an International Cricket Council inspection committee deemed Kolkata's Eden Gardens - the erstwhile venue for England's clash with India on 27 February - as unfit for use due to missed deadlines on repair work. "The wall is at the periphery of the stadium and a small portion of it collapsed when fans pressed against it. It was a minor incident," said Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary KS Viswanathan.

Meanwhile, England's injury-riddled end to their tour of Australia continued yesterday after Paul Collingwood became the fifth player forced to fly home early.

Collingwood suffered a back spasm while batting in Wednesday's two-wicket defeat in the sixth one-day international in Sydney, and after treatment was ruled out of Sunday's final match of the series in Perth.