London: The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Sunday "unreservedly apologised" to the Australian team after its few members allegedly abused several visiting players in the Lord's Long Room following Jonny Bairstow's controversial dismissal on the fifth day of the second Ashes Test. 

In the 52nd over, Bairstow ducked a slow bouncer from Cameron Green and ventured out of the crease thinking that the ball was already 'dead'. However, Alex Carey broke the stumps and third umpire Marais Erasmus adjudged it stumped in favour of Australia.

Chasing a stiff 371 to win the match, England were at 193 for 5 with Bairstow at 10 at that time.

Soon the Lord's crowd booed Australia with chants of "same old Aussies, always cheating".

When the players walked through the Long Room, Australian opener Usman Khawaja was seen stopping and confronting a MCC member. He was pulled back by security guards. Warner could also been seen making a comment to some of the members. The booing continued as the Australian players climbed the stairs.

"The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special. After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of members," the MCC said in a statement.

"We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian Team and will deal with any Member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes. It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session." 

Australian team management had also requested the MCC to investigate the incidents involving spectators in the members' area.

"Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test,” Cricket Australia said in a statement. 

"It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area."

 

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Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.

The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.

"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.

Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.

He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.

Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.

The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.

Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.

He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.