Close encounters at Third Man (well Square Leg boundary actually)
I know, I know - what can you expect if you watch paint drying.... oops sorry I mean Cricket. Two cricket fans' enjoyment of a county cricket match was interrupted when a meteorite sailed towards the boundary ropes, hitting one man in the chest.
Jan Marszel, 51, and Richard Haynes, 52, were watching Sussex players Luke Wright and Monty Panesar bat when a black object soared towards them.
The rock, five inches in length and thought to be up to 4.5 billion years old, crashed into the ground and broke in two just in front of their seats square of the wicket.
Mr Marszel, an IT consultant, told the Daily Telegraph: “We were sitting at the boundary edge when all of a sudden, out of a blue sky, we saw this small dark object hurtling towards us.
“It landed five yards inside the boundary and split into two pieces.
“One piece bounced up and hit me in the chest and the other ended up against the boundary board.
“It came across at quite a speed - if it had hit me full on it could have been very interesting."
Meteorite strikes are extremely rare, but Mr Haynes remains convinced the object that is now back at his home is indeed a lump of rock from outer space.
Mr Haynes, said: “We were quietly supping our pints, both looked up at the same time and saw a black object coming towards us - we didn’t know what it was.
“If it had come from the other direction we might have suspected someone had thrown it, but we saw it come in straight over the ground from quite a way out - it was definitely a meteorite.”
Dr Matthew Genge, a meteorite expert at Imperial College, London, said: “If this turns out to be a meteorite it’s very exciting and would be the first fall in the UK since 1992.
"Potentially it contains secrets as to the formation of our solar system."
uk.eurosport.yahoo.com, July 26.