Cricket: Crowd behaviour rated among 'worst in world'

Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden described New Zealand's crowds as among the worst in the world after the reception the visitors received at the first one-day international on Saturday night.

Nearly 24 hours after Australia launched the series with a 10-run win at Wellington, Hayden was still fuming over sections of the Cake Tin crowd who spat, hurled rubbish and abused the visiting fieldsmen, twice causing the game to be held up.

"You come to expect it, but I didn't like the way the crowd performed," Hayden said.

"I got spat on. I don't see how that's [acceptable] behaviour. We're here to play entertaining cricket, not to be spat on and have cans thrown at us, or whatever the crowd want to do.

"We've got the two best sides in the world playing against each other and it's ridiculous to think you're going to be physically abused."

Asked whether he thought it was the most hostile environment he'd played in, the Queenslander said: "I think so, yeah. Here and South Africa - and Sydney."

New Zealand coach John Bracewell downplayed the crowd's conduct, saying the behaviour was no worse than visiting teams faced in Australia and accusing the Australians of milking the incidents to slow the game down.

"It's certainly no different than what we got in Australia," Bracewell said. "I think the tactical awareness as learned from Steve Waugh has been passed on. It's just a strategy that they often use to break up the pattern of the day."

However, New Zealand Cricket spokesman Steve Addison said there would be discussions today about security for tomorrow's second one-dayer in Christchurch.

Officials were treating the matter "with some concern".

"I don't think there was a problem with the amount of security at Saturday night's game, it's just that they should probably have been more pro-active," he said.

"But whatever the results of the discussions, I think it's fair to say that we take a very dim view of rubbish or anything else being thrown at players, and will take steps to prevent it."

The crowd disturbances at Wellington followed noisy and drunken behaviour at the Twenty20 match in Auckland last week. They are the latest in a series of bizarre incidents involving New Zealand spectators and Australian cricketers.

Stuart Law was hit by a sauce bottle in Wellington seven years ago, Michael Bevan was struck by a flounder a few years later, Brett Lee was pelted with fruit during his first tour in 2000, and Greg Matthews had a toilet seat thrown at him in 1986-87.