The second Ashes Test between England and Australia at Lord’s has been disrupted by Just Stop Oil protesters.
Two protesters ran on to the pitch and threw orange powder, before England cricketer Jonny Bairstow picked one of them up and carried him off the pitch.
The protesters were wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts.
Another protester was stopped by security staff before being taken away from the grounds.
Bairstow had to briefly leave the field to change his top, after it was covered in orange powder, and the match resumed when he returned.
The Metropolitan Police said three people were arrested following the incident and taken into custody.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, speaking in the Sky Sports studio, said he felt for the players after the hotly-anticipated match was halted so early in the battle.
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“As a batter in the build-up you just want to get out there and under way. Delays are not ideal for anyone,” he said.
“The batters just need to put something like this out of their mind.”
Speaking on BBC’s Test Match Special, commentator Jonathan Agnew said: “Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again, let’s hope that’s the one attack on the Ashes this year.”
Just Stop Oil said it did not know who the protesters were but supported their actions.
“At 11am, three Just Stop Oil supporters stormed the pitch at Lord’s Cricket Ground in a cloud of orange powder paint and disrupted the #Ashes2023 Second Test between England and Australia,” it said in a statement on Twitter.
“It’s just not cricket to license new oil, gas and coal whilst the climate crisis knocks us for six.”
The group demanded the British government halt new fossil fuel projects in the UK – and urged Lord’s to make a statement demanding the same.
“In recent weeks, Asia has been experiencing a historic heatwave. Reports indicate that cricket will be the hardest hit of all the major pitch sports by the extreme conditions wrought by the climate crisis – much of the cricketing world is at serious risk.
“Lord’s Cricket Ground boasts about being powered by 100% renewable energy, yet their principal partner is JP Morgan, the world’s worst fossil bank that contributed $317 billion in fossil fuel financing from 2016 to 2020. P.S. we don’t know who these people are but we (heart symbol) them.”
