Interesting interuptions to play

Apologies again for the delay on updating – I am struggling a bit at the moment with some health problems, but should now be over the worst.

A quick update from some reading I have been doing recently – some interesting reports on reasons that games have been stopped.

- In 1995, a game being played in Gloucestershire was officially abandoned by the umpires due to poor light. This decision was taken as the result of thick black smoke blanketing the ground from a nearby animal crematorium.

- Also in 1995, Shane Warne’s favourite batsmen, Darryll Cullinan, hit a ball over the boundary for a six in a domestic match. As is commonplace in South Africa, a number of spectators had fired up a barbeque, and the ball landed right in the middle of a pan of hot fat. Play was delayed for over ten minutes whilst the officials firstly retrieved the ball, and then while they waited for the ball to cool enough to be cleaned of the oily coating.

- England’s 1922-23 tour of South Africa was fairly uneventful, except for a pitch invasion in the final test. The small green frogs setup camp on the pitch, and play came to a complete halt until the groundsmen were able to collect them all and remove them to safety.

- In the 1930s in Kenya, a pride of lions was seen circling the cricket ground. The game commenced, but after a short period of time, a hit into the outfield came to stop just inside the boundary. The fieldsman in pursuit came to sudden halt when the lions came to investigate, and he prudently made a hasty retreat. The batsmen continued running, the fielders wanted no part of it, and the umpires eventually had to temporarily stop the game until the lions could be scared away. Urban legend has it that the batsmen ran until they were exhausted, but there appears little evidence to support this.

- The 1984 match between arch enemies Launceston and Old Suttonians was repeatedly interrupted. A circus had setup camp in the next field, and their camels escaped on no less than four occasions and stampeded onto the cricket ground.

- Australia has its fair share of dangerous snakes, and during summer there are often sightings of the reptiles on cricket grounds. In 1967, a game in South Australia was temporarily delayed when a brown snake, which evidently had been asleep in hole next to the pitch, stuck its head up and made its way towards the surprised batsman. The batsman, obviously a country lad, immediately beat it to death with his bat. The delay in the game actually was due to the fact that the wicketkeeper had scarpered on first spotting the snake, and was hiding in the pavilion.