Monkey stops play during England's tour match in India, and other bizarre cricket interruptions PIG STOPS PLAY An Australian fan let a pig loose on the outfield during the 1982-83 Ashes Test in Sydney. It had "Botham" painted on one side and "Eddie" on the other, a reference to the physiques of the England players Ian "Beefy" Botham and Eddie Hemmings. HEDGEHOG STOPS PLAY Back at home, a hedgehog briefly stopped play during Derbyshire's Championship match against Gloucester in 1957. Players tried to shoo the invader off the pitch, before Derbyshire's wicketkeeper George Dawkes, who had the benefit of big gloves, picked it up and removed it from the field. FIREWORKS STOP PLAY Australia's cricketers walked off the field in protest at Trent Bridge as Pakistan supporters threw fireworks onto the pitch in 2001. The match was suspended for 20 minutes, with Australia warning they would carry out their earlier threat to abandon the match if there was any more trouble. EXPLODING GAS CANISTERS STOP PLAY England's players were petrified by a large explosion during the Faislabad Test of 2005, believing it to be a terrorist attack. An exploding gas canister turned out to be the cause. During the hold up in play, Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi was caught on television scraping his boots on the surface. Umpire Hair and England batsman Marcus Trescothick noticed the difference in the pitch and the suspicions were confirmed by television footage. Afridi pleaded guilty to a level three breach of the ICC code of conduct and was handed a ban of one Test and two one-day internationals. GEORGE DAVIS PROTESTORS STOP PLAY An entire Test match was lost in 1975 when campaigners calling for the release of robber George Davis vandalised the pitch at Headingley. They dug holes in the pitch and poured oil over one end of the wicket. The damaged pitch was discovered early on Tuesday by the head groundsman, George Cawthray. Mr Cawthray said: "When I first saw the damage it did not sink in. I was amazed. I thought I should be able to repair the holes but it was the oil that did the damage. The campaigners' actions led to the final match between England and Australia on Tuesday being abandoned. It was declared a draw robbing England of the chance to win back the Ashes. SUN STOPS PLAY Derbyshire had to spend more than £100,000 to end the bizarre 'sun-stopped-play' incident at the County Ground. Dazzling evening sunshine stopped play for the first time in June 2006 and several games were hit in 2007. "Stopping play in perfect conditions is unacceptable," said chief executive Tom Sears. SNOW STOPS PLAY Derbyshire again. On June 2, 1975 after a blizzard left an inch of snow on the Buxton ground ahead of the game with Lancashire. Almost inevitably, one of the umpires was Dickie Bird.