A SWARM of bees sent Hampshire and Leicestershire cricketers diving for cover at the county's Rose Bowl ground yesterday.

The creatures were less interested in the game than a couple of young queen bees spotted by the thousand-strong swarm, which had been woken from hibernation by the warm weather.

The unwelcome guests picked a prime spot on a stretch of advertising hoarding by the boundary, stopping the game for ten minutes.

John Bishops, Hampshire health and safety inspector, was tasked with dispersing the swarm.

He said: "The first we knew about it was when we saw the players duck and dive for the ground.

"By coincidence we had a beekeeper who is a member watching the cricket - we all call him The Honeyman. He was able to tell us what was going on.

"His advice was that they would either all meet there and then fly away or stay overnight. If play then started and the advertising fence was hit by a ball, there was a good chance they would end up stinging people in the ground. So we contacted the local council who sent a beekeeper."

The beekeeper, wearing a netted hat and brandishing a smoker, made the bees drowsy before tempting them into an artificial hive.

All the excitement did little for Hampshire's performance on the pitch. They ended the day 34 short of the follow-on with only Alan Mullaly to come.