Watch: Jonny Bairstow lifts pitch intruder to take him out of playing area during Ashes 2023

England wicketkeeper batter Jonny Bairstow carried a pitch intruder on his own to hand him over to the security guards. After the first over of the ongoing second Test of the Ashes 2023 at Lord’s, a pitch intruder halted the game. The protestors were none other than the infamous ‘Stop Oil Protest’. For the unversed, this group is working as  “a coalition of groups working together to ensure the government commits to halting new fossil fuel licensing and production”.

In other words, they are demanding the government stop licensing and exploration of fossil fuels in the United Kingdom. They were believed to have planned to disrupt the WTC Final 2023 between India and Australia and other games this season. Meanwhile, Bairstow decided to take one of the protestors to the security officials present at the ground.

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In a statement provided by the protestors, it said “cricket will be the hardest hit of all the major pitch sports by the extreme conditions wrought by the climate crisis”.

“Cricket is an important part of our national heritage, but how can we enjoy England v Australia when much of the cricketing world is becoming unfit for humans to live in?” a spokesperson said. “We can no longer afford to distract ourselves when the sports we play, the food we eat, and the culture we cherish is at risk.” These protestors also interrupted the one-off Test between Ireland and England last month.

Talking about the game, the home team won the toss and elected to bowl first. The visitors decided to drop Scott Boland and replace him with Mitchell Starc. At the time of writing, Australia lost their first wicket with 73 runs on the board. Usman Khawaja (17) is back to pavilion while David Warner scored his first Test fifty in England after 2015.

Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

England XI: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson