WATCH | Ben Stokes furious as ladybirds halt play at Lord's on Day 1 of third Test

England cricket team captain Ben Stokes was furious as the third Test against India was halted momentarily towards the end of Day 1 at Lord’s due to an attack by ladybirds. Eventually, after some complaining and delay, the play restarted as Joe Root and Ben Stokes continued their stubborn partnership.

The incident occurred in the 81st over, right after India took the new ball. Akash Deep was preparing to bowl his fifth delivery to Stokes when senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah began complaining about being swarmed by flying insects.

Swarm of Ladybirds halt play at Lord’s 

Bumrah’s struggle against the insects was captured by the cameras as the game was halted for a while. Stokes was also not happy as his vision was compromised by the flying insects, but umpire Paul Reifell wasn’t having any of it as he asked the players to continue playing.

Over in the commentary box, Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton revealed that play was briefly paused due to a swarm of flying ants. But that information proved to be incorrect as they later shared that it wasn’t flying ants but ladybirds.

Nonetheless, after a brief halt, the match was back on and Stokes safely negotiated Akash Deep’s remaining balls.

Only two more overs were bowled after this as Stumps were taken post 83 overs with England on 251/4.

The partnership between Stokes (39*) and Root (99*) is now worth 79 from 170 balls and both batters will be back on Friday as England look to post a mammoth total.

Earlier, Bumrah and Akash Deep gave India a good start, bowling some brilliant deliveries that left the openers stuck to the crease, but they failed to find a breakthrough and it was all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who opened the account for the visiting team, by dismissing Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the 14th over.

Later, Root put up a 109-partnership with Ollie Pope, which was broken by Ravindra Jadeja as Bumrah got rid of Harry Brook.