Bangladesh fans stone wrong bus after debacle against West Indies

There were ugly scenes in Dhaka on Friday as the bus carrying the West Indies team was stoned by furious local fans, who had just seen Bangladesh routed by nine wickets in a crucial group match. There were no injuries, and the players made it safely back to their hotel, but two windows on the bus were cracked. The incident will cause concern about player safety in the country, which is due to host five more matches in the World Cup. The local police and the International Cricket Council are likely to move to strengthen the security cordon around the players for those games. The West Indies media manager, Philip Spooner, was keen to stress that "nobody got hurt, everybody is safe. There is no panic, everybody is fine." Bangladesh fans were incensed after seeing their team bowled out for just 58, the lowest total mustered by a Test-playing nation in a World Cup. According to Imtiaz Ahmed, deputy commissioner of police, the stone-throwers had mistaken the West Indies bus for the one carrying their own side. Given that, it seems a little rich for them to start protesting about the incompetence of their cricket side. The protesters cannot have known the old motto about people in glass houses. Ian Pont, Bangladesh's bowling coach, said the hosts did not escape: "I think there was something that hit our bus. When we got off, we saw the windows had been thrashed. People were throwing things at the bus as we were speeding along. We were going along very quickly, so these things kind of bounced off rather than hit the bus with full force. They ricocheted off, and bounced off to the side." The incident was reported live on Twitter by the West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, in his own inimitable style. "This is some bullshit.....Bangladesh stoning our bus!!! Freaking glass Break!!! This is crap, can't believe..what next bullets!!!! Kiss teeth", wrote Gayle as he lay on the floor of the bus. Moments later he added: "This is ridiculous!!! Damn!!! W Cup with so many security an this happen!! Big Joke!!! Trust me I'm not keen here!!! Av players lay flat!!!" Mustafa Kamal, president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, provided a more lucid explanation shortly afterwards. "Four or five stones came at one go from maybe five or six people standing far away from the main road. All the stones came in at one time and they were coming from far away from the main road. That's why the glass was not shattered." He said that sufficient security measure were in place, but extra precautions would be taken. The game was expected to be one of the highlights of the group stages, with both teams likely to be competing for a slot in the quarter-finals behind South Africa, India and, possibly but perhaps presumptuously, England. But Bangladesh produced a truly dismal performance, batting for just 18.5 overs. West Indies needed to use only three bowlers, as only two Bangladeshi batsmen made it into double figures. To collapse against the pace of Kemar Roach is one thing, but Bangladesh also struggled against the medium pace of Darren Sammy and the spin of Sulieman Benn. Fans in the stadium tore up flags and placards and threw them on to the pitch at the interval, but the worst was still to come.