In bizarre circumstances, an arrow attack forced a match to be abandoned in England. Surrey and Middlesex were playing at the Oval in a County Championship game on Thursday and that had to be called off due to the attack.
The incident took place in Middlesex’s second innings in the 69th over when the 12-inch long metal tipped arrow landed near Ollie Pope, the Surrey fielder, and close to the pitch. It created a panic amongst the players on the field who informed the umpires about the attack.
The play was stopped immediately and the players ran back to the pavilion for safety. The spectators which were more than 1000 in number, were advised to take cover.
According to a statement issued by the Metropolitan police, no injuries were reported and it is believed that the arrow was fired from outside the KenningtonOval. “Police were made aware at 16:35hrs (1535 GMT) on Thursday, 31 August of reports that an arrow or crossbow bolt had been loosed into The Oval cricket ground,” said the police statement.
“Officers are on scene. The ground is in the process of a controlled evacuation. There are no reported injuries. “At this early stage it is believed that the object came from outside of the ground.There have been no arrests. We retain an open mind as to motive. Enquiries continue,” it further stated.
Gareth Batty, the captain of Surrey wasn’t pleased with the incident as it could have seriously injured a player. “It is a deadly weapon for sure, if it had hit someone it would have caused some serious damage. It just shows the world we live in,” he said.
“If it is a crossbow rather than a longbow it is probably someone messing around and not understanding the implications of firing something into the air. Let’s hope it’s a couple of people who will feel pretty ashamed in the morning when they realise what happened,” Batty added.
