In one of the most bizarre interruptions ever seen on live television, a cricket match was brought to a halt when a man entered the ground and rode his scooter in the middle of the pitch. There have been numerous instances of intruders entering the field during a match, but this one promises to leave behind quite an impression. A video shared by England’s Barmy Army shows a club cricket match getting halted when a guy entered the field and rode his scooter on the pitch, leaving the onlookers perplexed.
The video went viral on social media on Monday, but it seems to have originally taken place on April 30th, the day when Soton University Cricket’s Twitter handle shared an image of the incident. “Welcome to Pompey boys, Job Centre’s the other way,” it had tweeted.
The video is accompanied by an audio of commentators reacting loudly to it, but in all possibility, that appears to be an audio clip from TikTok, as the application’s logo can be seen at the top left corner of the screen.
Cricket has witnessed interruptions of many kinds in the past. Rain, sightscreen issues, animals running on to the field and wet outfield have stopped play at some point. While many cricket interventions come to mind, this one takes the cake. A few years ago, during a Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in 2017, a man rode his car in the middle of a ground to bring the match to a halt at the Palam Airforce Ground in New Delhi. The match featured former stars Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Ishant Sharma.
On Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy tie, a man drove his Wagon R onto the field of play and into the pitch. The man, identified as Girish Sharma, did not notice any security and was apparently lost. After the incident, the match referee examined the pitch and the outfield and concluded that no damage had been reported.
A senior Indian Air Force official had said that at around 4.30 pm, a security guard of the IAF was checking a BCCI vehicle when he spotted the Wagon R enter the ground. “The entry gate is adjacent to the Air Force station and can be accessed from main road. When the driver entered the ground, our staff closed the gate to prevent him from escaping. He was caught and handed over to police,” the official had said adding that from Saturday, security will be increased at the gate.
