On this day in 2007: A pot of gravy stopped Lancashire-Kent match

The English County cricket has witnessed many interesting things on and off the cricket field for decades. While the players’ individual and collective performances have gone on to be etched in cricketing history books, one of a strange turn of events was also instrumental in halting a cricket match between Lancashire and Kent.

It was on this very day in 2007 that a pot of gravy temporarily went on to play a spoilsport in a County encounter between Lancashire and Kent. The two teams faced off against each other at the Old Trafford in Manchester. The Stuart Law-led side had declared their innings having scored a mammoth 451 for 5. Kent in reply were dismissed for 272 and were asked to follow-on.

During the lunch session of June 18, Kent were reeling at 58/3 and needed 121 more to avoid an innings defeat. Shortly after lunch, when Darren Stevens and Martin van Jaarsveld were showing a brave resistance to keep their side in the hunt, a bizarre incident took place as suddenly there seemed to be some kind of panic from the dressing room.

All the players who were present on the field witnessed the pavilion being evacuated and the play was stopped without anyone even knowing the exact reason. Moments later a couple of fire engines made their way to the ground, when it was learnt that there was smoke in the pavilion. The firemen were then seen rushing to the pavilion.

Surprisingly, there was neither any fire nor any cases related to a short circuit, instead it happened to be a pot of an overcooked gravy that was on a stove serious situation turned into a comical one. The smoke emitted from it had triggered the alarm, leading to panic amongst all as they believed a fire broke out. However, no mishap occurred and the alarm was set off and normalcy was restored as the play resumed after a pause.

However, things did not turn out to be good for Kent as they were bundled out for just 190, thereby setting up a meagre 12-run target for Lancashire, which they chased down in style to win by eight wickets.`