When cricket matches and other major sporting events have been disrupted, it’s usually due to natural weather events, such as heavy rainfall, severe heat, or too much snowfall. Even more serious natural phenomena, such as tornadoes, typhoons, hailstorms, cyclones, earthquakes, and volcanoes, have also stopped play.
Some of these events have caused so much destruction they have forced clubs to find temporary new homes.
Instead of looking at some of the natural disasters that have disrupted cricket’s domestic and international matches, here is a closer look at some of the truly bizarre reasons why play has been temporarily disrupted in recent memory.
What was the most recent reason for a cricket match to be disrupted?
Cricket match officials have had to stop play temporarily, or teams have had to postpone fixtures because of technical problems, such as poor lighting, electrical outages, or poor pitch conditions.
However, something completely unpredictable occurs every now and then, which forces players off the pitch and sees spectators ducking for cover or having to exit the stadium.
The most recent bizarre incident that stopped play occurred in a recent Test cricket match between India and South Africa when the match came to a halt because of a swarm of flying white ants.
The strange natural event brought the third T20 cricket match between two of the sport’s biggest nations to a halt at the SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa, on Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
The so-called flying ants were, in fact, highly evolved flying African subterranean termites. People in attendance saw the formation of new colonies of millions of soldier ants, kings, and queens. It’s not uncommon for this to happen in this part of the world, but it rarely disrupts cricket matches.
Play soon resumed after the short disruption, and India won by 11 runs, which made it 2-1 in the series.
The event didn’t affect wagers placed by people on today’s safest betting sites South Africa has to offer, such as 10Bet for example. Markets remained open, and in-play betting services (aka live betting) were unaffected apart from a slight service delay for around half an hour until play resumed.
Five of the most bizarre reasons why cricket matches have been disrupted
Besides the recent flying ants at the Centurion, here are five of the cricketing world’s other most bizarre incidents that have forced play to stop. They include the following:
- Solar eclipse – in 1980, on the second day of a Test match between England and India, the entire game had to be abandoned because of a total solar eclipse. The event meant that this fixture was the most delayed cricket match in history
- A swarm of bees – in 2017, when South Africa played Sri Lanka in a pink ball One Day International (ODI) match, play was stopped for roughly an hour when a swarm of bees invaded the field. Players were seen laying down on the floor to avoid getting stung while the brave groundsmen did everything they could to get rid of the bees, which even involved using vacuum cleaners and pesticides. A similar event occurred between these two teams just two years later when they met again in the ODI World Cup, but this time, in the United Kingdom
- Toxic smog – in December 2017, air pollution levels were so high in Delhi that the Test match between India and Sri Lanka suffered multiple delays. It is the first and only test cricket match to be halted by toxic smog, which even forced players to wear masks
- Low clouds – at the 2023 ODI World Cup, when India took on New Zealand at the Dharmsala Stadium, low-hanging clouds massively reduced visibility. The foggy/hazy conditions only disrupted play for a few minutes before play resumed
- Bright sun – in 2019, play was disrupted for around half an hour when the sun was setting during an ODI match between India and New Zealand. The umpire responded to complaints from former Indian opener Shikar Dhawan and decided to pause play. Dhawan said that it was impossible to see because the low sun was directly shining into his eyes, and the umpire agreed
Final thoughts
These are just some of the weird and amazing reasons why cricket matches have been disrupted, and we will undoubtedly continue to see more disruptions like this over the coming years.
It’s not just cricket; many other sports have also been disrupted due to unforeseen and often bizarre occurrences, from pitch invasions and stray animals to ghost goals, stolen balls, protests, and even wars.
