Cricketer Jordan Clark had his £18,000 Rolex stolen OFF HIS WRIST by two intruders while sleeping

Jordan Clark had his Rolex watch stolen off his wrist while asleep in a Birmingham hotel room in a chillingly disturbing breach of player security at the end of the 2022 season.

Clark was on Hundred duty with Northern Superchargers when the incident occurred at the city’s Hyatt in the early hours of August 20.

The 32-year-old – a contemporary of England captain Ben Stokes in junior cricket in Cumbria – did not play in the previous evening’s match but had remained in Birmingham to socialise with the Phoenix’s Liam Livingstone, a fellow Cumbrian and ex-Lancashire team-mate.

Clark had lost his mobile phone on the way to meeting up at one of the city’s bars and reported it missing to reception upon returning to the hotel approximately four hours later.

When he awoke later that day, however, his phone had mysteriously reappeared on his bedside table but his Rolex Datejust watch – estimated to be worth between £16,000 and £18,000 – was gone.

Jordan Clark (above) had his Rolex watch stolen off his wrist while asleep in a Birmingham hotel room in a chillingly disturbing breach of player security at the end of the 2022 season

Clark was on Hundred duty with Northern Superchargers when the incident occurred at the city’s Hyatt in the early hours of August 20

Clark, who as a Surrey player begins the 2023 campaign as a county champion, subsequently asked hotel staff to view its CCTV feed and confirm the watch was on his wrist when he entered the lobby from his night out.

With Superchargers team-mate Roelof van der Merwe as a witness, this was confirmed, while the security camera pictures revealed two men entering Clark’s room shortly after 6am.

The footage later went missing and without it police concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove a crime had been committed.

Significantly, however, Clark had taken a screen shot of the CCTV stills of the individuals entering his room and the hotel’s insurers eventually paid out the watch’s face value of £13,000 – the amount his Australian wife Dominique had paid for what was his 30th birthday present – in January following an admission of liability.

However, as Rolex watches tend to increase in value, he was technically out of pocket as well as being upset at the loss of an item with huge sentimental significance.

The extreme invasion of privacy and safety – reminiscent of intruders videoing Virat Kohli’s Perth hotel room at last year’s Twenty20 World Cup in Australia – further angered Clark because Dominique and their young son Teddy had been staying with him the previous night, before returning home on the day of the Superchargers’ win.

Clark’s Rolex stolen off his wrist by two intruders while he slept in the hotel in Birmingham (one of the suspected intruders pictured above) 

‘The watch meant a lot to me, but it made me think about what could’ve happened. It could have been a lot worse, and I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone,’ Clark told Sportsmail, adding that he was ‘in shock’ at how easily non-residents could access a room. On overseas trips, it has become commonplace for floors housing England players to be sealed off and restrictions placed on the use of lifts by other guests.

Clark’s phone fell out of his pocket during a taxi ride, and after initially trying to discover the whereabouts of his belongings by ringing it from those of others, gave up. Crucially, though, his ID was tucked in the back of the phone case.

These personal effects provided the information to trace him to the Hyatt, and for those in possession of them to be taken to the floor on which Clark was staying.

‘When I asked them to look at the CCTV, they wouldn’t let me into the room itself, but the guy came out and asked whether I knew these two people? He showed me a photo on his phone and told me the room had been opened for two minutes at around 6.15am,’ Clark said.

The immediate aftermath of the incident was both ‘infuriating and draining’, Clark added, explaining that the security guard he dealt with later told him to claim on his personal house insurance while the police officer investigating implied he’d been drunk and perhaps lost the watch either while out or on the journey between lobby and hotel room.

Clark says he was also told by police not to reply to an Instagram message from an anonymous account hours after his phone was returned, which read: ‘I’ll send you my details, can you transfer the reward?’

The hotel’s insurers eventually paid out the watch’s face value of £13,000 – the amount his Australian wife Dominique had paid for what was his 30th birthday present

An ECB spokesperson confirmed that security for Hundred teams replicates that provided to England when they play home internationals. However, Clark, van der Merwe and Michael Pepper were among a group that had chosen to stay in Birmingham when the rest of the Superchargers party including its security personnel had travelled back to Leeds post-match.

After Clark reported the events, the ECB lobbied the Hyatt on his behalf and the hotel management informed the governing body that in addition to accepting liability for the financial loss, a full review had taken place of security and new personnel and protocols were in place going forward.

And it appears to have been enough to satisfy the ECB – although England stay elsewhere when playing at Edgbaston, the spokesperson confirmed the Hyatt will be considered as an option for visiting teams during this year’s Hundred.

Both the Hyatt and West Midlands Police were contacted for comment.