Just Stop Oil protesters attempt to delay England bus on route to Lord's for Ireland Test

A handful of members of the climate change campaign group, who have made disruption of sporting events a primary part of their strategy, walked in front of the bus carrying Ben Stokes and his side as it made its way to the home of cricket

The Cricketer | 01/06/2023 at 09:20

Just Stop Oil protesters attempted to delay England's team bus on the way to Lord's on day one of the Test summer.

A handful of members of the climate change campaign group, who have made disruption of sporting events a primary part of their strategy over recent months, walked in front of the bus carrying Ben Stokes and his side as it made its way to the home of cricket on Thursday morning (June 1).

Police were in attendance at the incident in Kensington, a picture of which was posted on Instagram by wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow.

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England cricketer Jonny Bairstow posted on Instagram about the Just Stop Oil protest [Jonny Bairstow/Instagram]

Bairstow's post included the caption: "If we're a bit late it's not our fault".

The protest, which took place not long after England's departure from their hotel, did not significantly impact the team's travel, and the bus continued on its route to Lord's with little more than a five-minute delay. England's players arrived at the ground just after 9am.

Just Stop Oil's tactics have triggered cricket authorities to increase security measures at major matches this summer.

The pressure group have already taken action at the Premiership Rugby final, when two men invaded the Twickenham to cover it with orange paint powder, and snooker's World Championship at The Crucible in Sheffield. Further protests have taken place at the Chelsea Flower Show and across London in the form of slow marches in front of traffic.

Cricket's administrators have been speaking with their counterparts in other sports in an effort to share knowledge and ideas to minimise disruption at events. And for both the Ireland Test and the upcoming Ashes series, there are expected to be an additional security presence.

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Just Stop Oil disrupted the 2023 Premiership Rugby final at Twickenham [AFP via Getty Images]

An MCC statement to the Telegraph read: "We look forward to welcoming players and spectators to the first international Test match of the summer at Lord's. Their safety and security is the highest priority for MCC.

"We have a number of ground regulations that help us achieve that; including not entering the playing area or demonstrating. Whilst protests would disrupt the game, we have a number of security measures in place, some visible, some less so to deter this. In some areas we have enhanced those existing provisions ahead of this summer’s schedule."