Umpire hit by a model aircraft; cricket match halted

The umpire with the model aircraft

The occurrence of a rare incident in the game of cricket led to the halt of a match between Cosby second team and Gilmorton Village on Saturday. The umpire who was positioned at square leg was hit by a model aircraft that stopped the match for a few minutes.

The unusual sight took the batsmen and bowlers on the field by surprise. Cosby’s opening batsman, Nigel Meredith admitted his disbelief as the model plane landed on the pitch before hitting the umpire.

“It was about two hours into our innings and the plane just appeared out of the blue in the sky above the ground. The plane seemed to stall, then it spiralled downwards and crashed into the ground. It bounced then crashed into the legs of the square leg umpire.” Meredith said.

According to him, the players found the incident funny and he assured that the umpire was not hurt.

“It was just as well that the plane hit the ground and bounced before it hit the umpire otherwise it could really have hurt him. He feigned a bit of injury at first but then assured everyone he was fine,” he said.

The 32-year-old admitted that he had never witnessed such an incident in his cricketing career so far. “I have been playing cricket for 18 years and never seen anything like it. I have seen play stopped for rain and even a dog on the pitch but not because an umpire has been hit by a plane.

“I heard that the man who was flying the plane came into the club house to claim the plane a bit later. I think he apologised for what had happened,” he added.

Cosby bowler Simon Cooper, who was another player to witness the unnatural event said: “It was weird. The plane just suddenly appeared and then hit the umpire. He was laughing and joking about it so there was no harm done. I am not so sure if the plane came off worse or not.”

The 18-year-old Cooper also managed to get a photograph of this bizarre incident: “I grabbed my phone and managed to get a photograph as the umpire carried the plane off the pitch,” he said.

Nigel played a useful innings of 63 runs as his team posted a total of 160. However, Cosby ended up with a losing draw as the visitors scored 193-5. Out of the 12 teams that play in the Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket League, Cosby and Gilmorton Village are placed at the seventh and tenth position respectively.