THE WACA pitch invader who tackled Pakistan’s Khalid Latif has been banned for life from attending cricket matches at the Perth venue but faces only a Aus$500 fine and Australia captain Ricky Ponting has joined the call for harsher punishments.

The actions of 37-year-old Yangebup man David James Fraser in running onto the WACA in Sunday’s fifth one-day international and tackling Latif to the ground made a mockery of the ground’s security and dented the WACA’s reputation.

“I just hope I never see that again to tell you the truth,” said Ponting. “I had seen that once a long time ago and that ended up being a horrible incident and seeing it again it is a worry.

He added: “Obviously we don’t condone that sort of behaviour and it’s unfortunately a small minority of the crowd that turns up to do something stupid like that which puts everyone in the same boat.

“Hopefully we don’t see that happen again. There was a lot of security around there and even more after it happened, but we’d like to think that it doesn’t happen in Australia again.

“It’s the spectator’s responsibility. You can’t turn up and act like that at a game of cricket. I hope it’s now a police matter because that’s what it deserves to be.”

Asked what should happen in future, Ponting said: “Making a very good example of this guy is a good way to start.

“If you make a good example of him and make it clear to everybody that turns up at the cricket that that sort of behaviour is unacceptable.

“We turn up as players and want to put on the best show that we can, and it was a tense moment of the game as well with it in the balance.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t want to see those people at the ground if they are going to behave like that.” (Eurosport)