Cricket match abandoned after charging bull stops play

Match at Burnopfield near Newcastle called off after 800kg young bull escaped from farm and stormed playing field

A cricket match had to be abandoned after a runaway bull stormed the playing field and charged at players.

The North East Premier League fixture at Burnopfield Cricket Club near Newcastle was called off on Saturday evening despite efforts to remove the animal from the ground.

Martin Oswell, director of the Tyneside club, said the young bull, which weighed about 800kg, had escaped from a farm and travelled about a mile to the playing field where it arrived at about 3pm.

Safety concerns quickly arose as the animal could be seen charging at players and farmers who attempted to recapture it.

Police were eventually called to the scene before the bull left “of its own accord”, Oswell said.

He told the Press Association: “Two of the farmers tried to stop the bull and it actually hit one of them.

“He was OK but I mean the beast probably weighed about 800kg.

“It was a juvenile bull, incredibly fit, athletic – quite frankly, it was quite dangerous.”

Oswell added: “We couldn’t get rid of it. There was no chance that the game was going to restart before the cutoff time.

“At first it was quite novel, it was quite funny – but we never thought it was going to impact on our game being abandoned.”

The bull’s owner drove a cow to the cricket club in an effort to entice the animal off the field but to no avail.

Oswell added: “The farmer who owns the bull arrived at the ground and tried at first to sort of cajole it and get it into a pen, but it failed.

“The bull was very frightened – it was spooked.”

Burnopfield CC, who are second in the North East Premier League, had scored 226 runs against opponents Hetton Lyons who were 12 for one when the match was interrupted.