When a fish stopped play and 11 Dutchmen didn't: "LONDON (Reuters) - It wasn't just a case of 'roller stops play', more of 'roller halts history'.
If a stray practice ball had not been crushed into the wicket by the heavy roller in Harare last week, Zimbabwe would surely have beaten West Indies in a test for the first time in their history.
The incident caused play to be delayed by around two hours on the third morning. Two days later, West Indies, nine men down, escaped with a losing draw.
In time, Zimbabwe spinner Ray Price's 10-wicket haul will be forgotten and it will be the roller which will be remembered.
Cricket is already full of such oddities.
'Rain stopped play' is a common refrain, of course, and bad light an everyday hazard. Streakers, in some parts of the world at least, used to be as well.
Lightning, though, has also held up the show, as well as snow, while an earth tremor caused a break during a one-day international in Trinidad in 1983.
SWARM OF BEES
Domestic pets, rodents of various hues and sizes, even the odd buffalo have prompted cricketing interruptions, as have swarms of bees -- as occurred in Madras in a Ranji Trophy match between Tamil Nadu and Punjab just over three years ago -- and birds.
The most famous case cost the perpetrator its life. A sparrow was hit in mid-flight and killed by a delivery from Jehangir Khan at Lord's and the unfortunate bird ended up stuffed, mounted and on display in the pavilion.
There is even a recorded case of 'fish stopped play', when a two-foot specimen landed in the middle of a pitch in Sri Lanka, dropped by a sea eagle harassed by crows.
Interventions of a human kind, however, are rarely as diverting.
England, set to lose a one-dayer against Pakistan in Leeds in 2001 after some magical bowling from Waqar Younis, opted to c"
