a cut and paste job off the northerner
here's a tale of how a cricketer accidentally batted a ball at a brand-new bmw. resulting in the car owner doing a pitch invasion. it's not only disgraceful but appallin innit? i meant the car owner.
If we're all reporters now, we are also all cricketers. Even those most bored or perplexed by the great game (including myself, I have to admit) can't fail to be stirred by the test match dramas and the climax at the Oval.
It's great when any sport - or hobby such as John Dempsey's birdwatching - gets a decent whack of attention. And in the case of cricket, the great struggle between England and Australia is spawning other stories.
Take Ian Lee, for example, whose cheerful face and straight willow bat feature prominently in the Yorkshire Post after he whacked a ball at Cookridge cricket club not only over the boundary but into a new GBP39,000 BMW. The resulting "discussion" ended with a one-man pitch invasion by the car's owner and the temporary locking of 17 stone, 6ft 2in Mr Lee in a room at the club, just north of Leeds, in case things got out of hand.
I'm not a great enthusiast for people spending GBP39,000 on a car, to be honest, and Mr Lee is naturally endearing to any journalist because of his excellent quotes. The Yorkshire Post recalls how he "is famed for his big hits which included once killing a hen with a six." And the cricketer adds: "I also hit a Peugeot 306 the same day and in the past I once hit a ball which smashed through a farmer's double glazed windows as he was having his tea. I've taken out a patio door too."
The BMW owner vented his wrath by pulling an umpire's tie, yanking out the wickets and throwing them around and, no doubt, stamping his foot.