Spectator hurt in Prior bat incident

A female spectator in the Lord's Pavilion was injured by broken glass after a bat thrown by England's Matt Prior broke a window yesterday.

Confusion surrounded the initial cause of the accident, which was said by a team spokesman to have involved an extraordinary sequence of events starting with a glove thrown by Prior, seemingly annoyed at being run out in the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka.


The broken window at the Lord's Pavilion. PIC/AFP

But, after speaking to England coach Andy Flower, who witnessed the incident, the spokesman, who said he'd previously been given "second-hand" information, told AFP: "Matt Prior put his bat on the ledge where the (dressing room) wall meets the window. The bat handle bounced off the wall into the glass and the glass broke."

The spokesman had earlier said it was an unfortunate incident and Prior would not be fined by team management. "It is my understanding a female spectator suffered a small cut to her ankle," the spokesman said.

"It was an accident and Matt Prior has apologised (to the spectator)."