06 August,2009 08:56 AM IST | | Khalid-A H-Ansari
Although they are putting up a brave front, Ricky Ponting's Australians are privately upset at the merciless taunts they have been receiving from the boisterous Barmy Army through this series.
So loutish has been the behaviour of the drunken England supporters that Giles Clarke, chairman of the England Cricket Board, has sent an open letter in the official programme for tomorrow's fourth Test at Heaningley
demanding that fans lay off Ponting.
Clarke wrote that Ponting "has earned the respect and courtesy" of the crowd and that the game "may never see his like again".
The Australian captain has been booed and jeered right at all venues in the series, prompting former Australian Test opener Justin Langer to label the England fans a "disgrace".
"These people stand behind a fence drinking beer with most of them 50 kg overweight making ridiculous comments," Langer said.
u00a0Headingley ground officials fear there could be a repeat of the drunken antics last year when 81 people were ejected from the infamous West Stand during a Test between England and South Africa.
Security guards have been told to adopt a "football style" approach and throw out drunken yobbos.
Bill Cooper, trumpeter of the Barmy Army, has been banned from playing his trumpet during the Test.
