Bees stop South Africa-Sri Lanka match for an hour
The third one-day international between South Africa and Sri Lanka on Saturday was halted for over an hour due to the arrival of a swarm of bees during the Sri Lankan innings. All the 13 players and both the umpires were forced to lie face down on the field as the bees buzzed over them.
The incident happened in the 25th over when Sri Lanka had just lost their fourth wicket with 115 runs on the board, and the new batsman Asela Gunaratne was about to face his first ball of the match. As the bees entered the ground, the slip fielders dropped to the ground followed by the batsmen and the umpires.
Although the game resumed soon, the bees again made their appearance in the 27th over and converged on a helmet, which had been placed behind wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, and the game had to be stopped once again.
Ground staff used two fire extinguishers into the swarm to disperse them, after which the players returned to the field following a delay of more than 20 minutes. But, the bees were not done as the players again left the field because there were still bees in the area where de Kock needed to stand.
The play resumed after a break of 65 minutes which was officially calculated to be exactly an hour, taking into account a drinks break was also taken in between.