Plans not stolen says MCC

The Melbourne Cricket Club released a statement yesterday denying any breach of security in the English dressing rooms that caused England’s bowling tactics to be leaked.

“Following the investigation, all parties agree that there is no evidence of any breach of security in the player dressing room area in the Ponsford Stand.

“An England team official printed several copies of an internal document on day one of the Test match from an MCC administration office and, to the best of our knowledge, all printed copies were handed to that official.

“One of these copies was found by a patron in the members’ reserve and distributed to media outlets on day two. The MCC believe that there was no breach of security involved in the printing of these documents.”

That patron was Australian cricket fan Nick Ruthry, who told the Sydney Morning Herald:

“I found it on the ground in the members’ area.”

“I’d heard the ABC commentators saying they were wondering what the England plans were, so I thought I’d help them out – I only wanted to make sure Warney didn’t cop one in the throat.”

The bowling plans were emailed to the media earlier in the week causing a furore in the English camp.

Ian Botham however, was not satisfied by the investigation and its findings.

“You say found…it was a stolen piece of paper out of the dressing room and should not be stolen.

“Just who was in the dressing room and what else has been stolen?”

Cricket Australia on the other hand, have accepted the MCC’s findings.

“From Cricket Australia’s point of view, the MCC and local event security have accepted this piece of paper did not come from the player rooms – there is no breach of security in or around the player rooms,” a Cricket Australian spokesman said.