A serial pest in the England and India cricket series has been arrested over night after he ran into the back of an English star.
Jonny Bairstow was the victim of an alleged assault after a spectator ran onto the field and collided with him.
The incredible incident came when Bairstow was batting with Ollie Pope in England’s first innings of the Fourth Test at the Oval.
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The man hurdled the perimeter advertising and dashed to the middle where he ran into Bairstow and attempted to bowl a ball he had with him before being led away by stewards.
A Met Police statement said: “A man has been arrested on suspicion of assault following an incident at the Oval Cricket Ground on Friday, 3 September.
“He remains in custody at a south London police station.”
England team sources confirmed the alleged assault was on Bairstow.
After the incident, more stewards appeared around the steps and seating area below England’s dressing-room.
It is bound to lead to a review of security for the remainder of this match and next week’s Fifth Test at Old Trafford.
It is the third time in the series the same man has breached security and interrupted the game.
His real name is believed to be Daniel Jarvis and he describes himself as “comedian, film maker and prank star” on Twitter.
He had ‘Jarvo 69’ on the back of his shirt but nobody was finding the joke funny this time.
During the Second Test at Lord’s, Jarvis came onto the field with the India fielders.
At Headingley, he walked out to bat with pads, gloves and helmet when England lost a wicket.
After he dropped a glove on that occasion, Bairstow angrily kicked it all the way to the boundary.
An ECB spokesperson said: “Any pitch invasion is completely unacceptable.
“The ECB and our host venues do not tolerate any such behaviour which risks the safety of players, officials and staff.
“The ECB works closely with all our venues to share information and enhance their security operation.”
Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes both scored valuable fifties on their return to Test cricket as England recovered from a top-order collapse to build a lead over India at the Oval on Friday.
Pope made 81 on his Surrey home ground and all-rounder Woakes exactly 50 before England were dismissed for 290 in reply to India’s first-innings 191 on the second day of the fourth Test.
India then held firm to be 43-0 in their second innings at stumps, a deficit of 56 runs.
Rohit Sharma was 20 not out and KL Rahul 22 not out, with the intriguing five-match series level at 1-1.
England were struggling at 62-5 early on Friday after paceman Umesh Yadav, playing his first Test in nearly a year, removed Craig Overton and Dawid Malan in a return of 3-76 in 19 overs.
But Pope, only recalled because Jos Buttler missed the match on paternity leave, revived the innings during partnerships of 89 and 71 with Jonny Bairstow (37) and Moeen Ali (35) respectively.
Warwickshire paceman Woakes, who’d already marked his first Test in over a year by leading England’s attack with 4-55 on Thursday, then blazed his way to a fifty in just 58 balls in front of a sun-drenched crowd.
This was Pope’s first half-century in 16 Test innings since a 62 against Pakistan in Manchester last year and also extended the 23-year-old excellent record at the Oval where, prior to Friday, he had scored 1,410 runs at an average of 100.71 in 18 first-class innings.
“I’m gutted (not to get a hundred) on my home ground it would have been a bit of a dream to get over the line,” Pope told Sky Sports. “But I guess if someone said you’d get 81 first time back you’d take that.”
— with AFP
This story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
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