The county championship cricket match between Surrey and Middlesex at the Oval was abandoned because a crossbow bolt was fired on to the field last week. The arrow, which measured around 12 to 18 inches, is thought to have been fired from outside the ground and landed within feet of the players. No one was injured but the Surrey chief executive said “it could very easily have killed someone”.
At 4.20 pm when the match was heading to a draw on the final day, the projectile landed about 10 metres from the pitch, and close to the Surrey fielder, Rory Burns. It had a pointed metal tip. The umpires encouraged the players and spectators to take cover inside.
Police arrived within 15 minutes and a controlled evacuation of the ground took place. It is unknown where exactly it was fired from – the area of south London around the Oval is particularly densely built up – but police investigations focused on the area north-east of the ground, because of the direction it landed in. While players said they heard the whistling sound of it flying in, the Middlesex batsman Nick Compton pointed towards the OCS Stand at the Vauxhall End of the ground, suggesting it had flown over the stand.
“It was a proper arrow with a proper metal end,” said the Surrey captain, Gareth Batty, who was fielding about 25m away from where it landed. Police continued to explore the area into the evening and conducted a thorough search of the ground. “We do not know if it was fired deliberately or if it was fired and just landed on our green space. It’s a lightweight projectile but one which looked as if it could have travelled 800 metres,” said Gould.
