Tuesday's unseemly pitch invasion by hundreds of Pakistan supporters at Old Trafford has prompted firther calls for government legislation after players and administrators admitted to a feeling of hopelessness.

Police and stewards could only stand and watch as the fans streamed onto the pitch at the end of Tuesday's game despite pre-match pleas to stay off from Pakistan's captain Rashid Latif.

Although the invasion was largely perceived as good natured it was clear the players, particularly England captain Michael Vaughan, were unhappy at the lack of security control.

Lancashire CCC has now launched an investigation into Tuesday's invasion, although chief executive Jim Cumbes remains optimistic it will not affect the ground's future potential for hosting international matches.

"We've worked hard on the way we organise our matches and believe we have made progress in that. I think the ECB would accept that it is very difficult to keep back such a force as we saw the other night. We'll have to consider what happened and look at obliterating this problem," said Cumbes.

"I'm waiting for a full report on what happened, but from what I've been told there were some positive aspects to it although obviously the pitch invasion was very disturbing and seen by everyone," he added.

As a direct consequence security has now been tripled for England's next game against Pakistan, at The Oval on Friday, with Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon saying: "We'll be forced to have a fairly obtrusive presence of stewards who will form a complete ring round the perimeter for at least 15 minutes before the end of the game. In that way a very clear message is sent to the crowd at an early stage."

He added: "We're very resolute and determined to ensure maximum safety for the players, officials and spectators."

Surrey CCC has confirmed it will have 400 stewards, 80 security officers and, somewhat bizarrely, "25 young rugby union players", in place for Saturday's clash.

So far Sports Minister Richard Caborn has resisted calls for fresh legislation but David Clarke, ECB events manager, said clarification of the current situation was urgently required: "It is clear from our experience that it's (current legislation) not appropriate".

19 Jun, 2003