Five injured as bees suspend fourth ODI between India A and England Lions at Thiruvananthapuram for 15 minutes
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Irate bees at the Sports Hub here on Tuesday suspended the fourth One-Dayer between India A and England Lions for about 15 minutes at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram after a group of spectators stirred the beehive while the match was in progress.
Around five people who were injured in the bee attack were taken to the nearest hospital for medical care.
The injury was not serious and no player, supporting staff and other officials were hurt in the incident.
According to officials, a group of spectators who wandered to the secluded area in the west stand provoked the bees by throwing stones at the beehive when the 28th over was in progress of the England Lions innings.
Perturbed by the act, the bees swarmed around the spectators in the gallery forcing the spectators including women and children to run for cover. Though the bees didn’t enter the field, India ‘A’ coach Rahul Dravid, who was taking a stroll around the field, had to scramble for safety when the bees unleashed their attack in gallery and fence area.
Following this, the players stopped the match for a while and gathered at one point inside the field. The match resumed only after the ground staff and authorities ensured that the bees were cleared out from the gallery. The authorities also shifted the spectators at the west stand of the gallery to east stand in order to ensure their safety.
Speaking to Express Ajay Padmanabhan, Chief Operating Officer, Sports Faculties ltd, said “It was an unfortunate incident. We had ensured that the gallery where the spectators who sit for watching the match was cleaned ahead of the match. But it were some spectators who went upstairs where they were not supposed to go in the normal circumstances and stirred the hive unknowingly or mischievously.”
“Soon after the incident, the authorities have taken steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” Ajay added.
India ‘A’ which bowled out the Lion’s for 221 in their innings have already sealed the series 3-0 winning the first three matches of the series.
It was supposed to be competitive, but has turned out to be massively one-sided. The India - New Zealand One-Day International series has already been sealed with two games to go, India proving to be the much superior side.
