Published 21:16 IST, June 28th 2019
WATCH: Swarm of bees show love for South Africa-Sri Lanka clash for the second time, cause interruption in World Cup encounter
The World Cup match between Sri Lanka and South Africa on Friday was halted for a brief period after a swarm of bees invaded the centre of the ground in Chester-le-Street.
The World Cup match between Sri Lanka and South Africa on Friday was halted for a brief period after a swarm of bees invaded the centre of the ground in Chester-le-Street.
Players and on-field umpires were forced to hit the ground to save themselves after a swarm of bees entered the field, but luckily none was stung by the insects.
The interruption occurred for about a minute in the 48th over of Sri Lanka's innings.
Incidentally, it is not the first occasion when bees played spoilsport during a match between the same two sides.
In 2017, the bees had halted the match at Wanderers Stadium when South Africa hosted Sri Lanka in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, South Africa were in a good position to win only their second match of the ongoing World Cup. Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis were going great guns at 60 and 62 respetively in pursuit of the target of 204, while the Proteas were just 51 runs away from the victory.
Earlier in the day, none of the Sri Lanka batsmen could get going against the likes of K Rabada, Chris Morris, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo and Imran Tahir as they couldn't post a big total.
While Proteas were already out of contention for the knockouts of the tournament, the Sri Lankans will also have a minute chance of qualifying for the semis.
(With inputs from PTI)
Updated 21:53 IST, June 28th 2019