Karachi: South African Herschelle Gibbs got a vote of sympathy from former Pakistan captains, who demanded stricter steps to control crowds at stadiums and a plug on the use of stump microphones between overs.

Gibbs was banned for a Test, an ODI and a Twenty20 match for making unsavoury remarks against Pakistani spectators who were provoking South African players during first Test in Centurion.

Javed Miandad said Gibbs should not have made the remarks but added that the ICC must also look into circumstances that led to the outburst.

“What he did was wrong, but at the same time don’t forget players are human beings and, when insulted and abused by fans, tend to lose their cool. A lot of times, crowds go too far in their banter with players and this must be stopped,” Miandad said.

Miandad added there was a need for stricter penalties for crowd misbehaviour.

“I myself faced several such situations and it was difficult to control your temper when provoked by the crowd insulting your family, race, creed or colour,” he said.

Miandad also felt the ICC must ban television companies from relaying audio from stump microphones to viewers between overs.

“Between overs the audio must only be available to the Match Referee,” Miandad said.

The idea found support from another former captain Rashid Latif, who pointed out that many times players tended to say a lot of things in the heat of the moment which they did not really mean.

“It is natural that when you are frustrated and upset, you tend to say things which you don’t mean at all,” he said.

National selector Iqbal Qasim said Gibbs had been rightly penalised but said crowds must also behave and not go over the line.

“There is already a great debate on use of stump microphones between overs and it is something that must be addressed by the ICC to avoid further unpleasant controversies,” he said.