Cricket match called off as raging bull charges at players, disrupts proceedings
Animals and insects interrupting cricket matches are nothing new with bees, snakes, dogs and even African subterranean termites having invaded the fields in the past.
In a bizarre incident, a North East Premier League match between Burnopfield Cricket Club and Hetton Lyons was called off after a bull entered the field of play and kept charging at the players. After a lot of failed attempts to get the animal off the field, the match was abandoned.
The bull which weighed about 800kg had escaped from a farm and had travelled for 1.6km to reach the playing field and the animal’s owner had even driven a cow to the field in order to get the bull off the ground but the ruse had failed, according to a report by the BBC. Ultimately, the police arrived before the bull left on its own.
“At first it was quite novel, it was quite funny, but we never thought it was going to impact on our game being abandoned. We couldn’t get rid of it. There was no chance that the game was going to restart before the cut-off time,” Burnopfield club director Martin Oswell said to the BBC.
Cow stops play as @HettonLyonsCC attempt chase down 227 against Burnopfield CC.
🐄🏏❌😜😜@SkyCricket @SkySportsNews @neplcricket @burnopfieldcri1
just wanted to remind everyone that it still has the best moo-vement on the pitch. 😂#PitchInvader #CowCorner #OnlyInCricket pic.twitter.com/J92UBXBL1X
— Hetton Lyons CC (@HettonLyonsCC) July 4, 2026
“The farmer who owned the bull arrived at the ground and tried at first to sort of cajole it and get it into a pen, but it failed. The bull was very frightened, it was spooked. Two farmers tried to stop the bull and it actually hit one of them. He was OK but I mean the beast probably weighed about 800kg. It was a juvenile bull, incredibly fit, athletic, quite frankly, it was quite dangerous,” he added.
Animals and insects interrupting cricket matches are nothing new with bees, snakes, dogs and even African subterranean termites having invaded the fields in the past. In 2017, a village cricket match between Kerridge and Mossley was also interrupted when a cow invaded the pitch and began to charge at the players before eventually leaving.
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In a bizarre incident, a North East Premier League match between Burnopfield Cricket Club and Hetton Lyons was called off after a bull entered the field of play and kept charging at the players. After a lot of failed attempts to get the animal off the field, the match was abandoned.
The bull which weighed about 800kg had escaped from a farm and had travelled for 1.6km to reach the playing field and the animal’s owner had even driven a cow to the field in order to get the bull off the ground but the ruse had failed, according to a report by the BBC. Ultimately, the police arrived before the bull left on its own.
“At first it was quite novel, it was quite funny, but we never thought it was going to impact on our game being abandoned. We couldn’t get rid of it. There was no chance that the game was going to restart before the cut-off time,” Burnopfield club director Martin Oswell said to the BBC.
Cow stops play as @HettonLyonsCC attempt chase down 227 against Burnopfield CC.
🐄🏏❌😜😜@SkyCricket @SkySportsNews @neplcricket @burnopfieldcri1
just wanted to remind everyone that it still has the best moo-vement on the pitch. 😂#PitchInvader #CowCorner #OnlyInCricket pic.twitter.com/J92UBXBL1X
— Hetton Lyons CC (@HettonLyonsCC) July 4, 2026
“The farmer who owned the bull arrived at the ground and tried at first to sort of cajole it and get it into a pen, but it failed. The bull was very frightened, it was spooked. Two farmers tried to stop the bull and it actually hit one of them. He was OK but I mean the beast probably weighed about 800kg. It was a juvenile bull, incredibly fit, athletic, quite frankly, it was quite dangerous,” he added.
Animals and insects interrupting cricket matches are nothing new with bees, snakes, dogs and even African subterranean termites having invaded the fields in the past. In 2017, a village cricket match between Kerridge and Mossley was also interrupted when a cow invaded the pitch and began to charge at the players before eventually leaving.
