The veteran BBC Wales commentator Edward Bevan felt the full force of Peter Trego’s 59-ball century for Somerset against Glamorgan at Taunton on Monday, when one of the batsman’s six sixes smashed through the commentary box window and struck him in the small of the back.

Bevan, who was on air at the time, had just enough time to say: “It’s coming up towards us, is it going to hit us?” before the sound of smashing glass confirmed his fears. There followed several seconds of silence before Bevan’s co-commentator, Steve James, took over the microphone.

It was the third time in his long career that Bevan’s commentary stint had been interrupted in such a manner, but the first time outside of Cardiff. "It hit me on the back and I was quite shaken for a while," he told the BBC, after briefly losing sight of the ball. "There's a bruise there this morning - in fact I couldn't carry on.”

"Steve next to me turned round and the thing came through the window," he added. “As I turned so it wouldn't hit my face or head, it hit me in the small of the back, which wasn't nice. Had I stayed where I was the consequences would have been much worse.”

Trego’s innings proved to be the difference between the teams in the rain-affected match, but that one shot was a personal highlight, as Bevan noted. "Apparently when the ball went through the window, he [Trego] stood down and put his fist through the air as if to say 'I've been trying to do that for years and I've done it at last'!"

Lancashire wicketkeeper Gareth Cross may have held 18 catches for his county this season but he had an embarrassing case of butterfingers at the county’s end-of-season prize-giving ceremony when he dropped the Champagne Moment award and it smashed into pieces. Cross had been awarded the prize for his role in Lancashire’s Twenty20 win against Warwickshire at Old Trafford in June, in which he struck the penultimate ball for six to seal a dramatic five-wicket win, but his joy turned to embarrassment after he was given the trophy and it slipped from his hands and shattered.

Sussex County Cricket Club has come in for criticism from animal rights activists after a marksman was called in to shoot a fox that had been making a nuisance of itself at the county ground.

According to Dave Brooks, the county chief executive, the killing of the fox came as a last resort after months of “odd behaviour”, but the incident caused alarm among the residents of Eaton Road in Hove, with the police being called after three shots were fired shortly after midnight on Sunday morning.

Nigel Furness, 60, was at the nearby Sussex Cricketer pub when he heard the shots, and told The Argus: “I thought, ‘there’s something wrong here, what on earth is going on?’ It’s a big open space so it can be quite creepy at night. Then about five minutes later a police car came up. I asked the officers what was going on and they said there’s nothing to worry about, the cricket club is just shooting foxes and it is all legitimate.

“But there really is no need to shoot foxes. They are completely harmless and destroy a great many pests like slugs and snails and we are absolutely appalled. It is also extremely alarming that we were never told what was going on.”

Green Party animal rights spokesman Sue Baumgardt said: “To have people going in with rifles is appalling. At this time of year vixens are nursing cubs underground. A spokesman for the RSPCA said that killing wild pests should always be a last resort.”

A memorial service is planned for Thursday afternoon. Send flowers and gifts c/o Sussex County Cricket Club, Hove. Rumours that the fox was exterminated on the orders of the club's new sponsor, Old Speckled Hen, have been strongly denied.

Injuries are part of a pace bowler's life, but Gloucestershire seamer Ian Saxelby has found a bizarre way of putting himself out of action after dislocating his shoulder during an appeal.

It's the second time during the winter he has suffered a dislocation having also done it while climbing out of the pool when he was with the England performance squad in South Africa.

"It was pretty embarrassing and I am taking some stick over it," he told the Bristol Evening Post. "I don't think I'll bother to appeal when the season starts. I'll leave it to the keeper and slips."

The future of the Somerset Cricket Museum in Taunton has been secured on the eve of its 21st birthday, after it was bequeathed £250,000 in the will of a club supporter, Miss Patricia Watts, who died in August.

The museum, located in the Grade II listed Old Priory Barn at the County Ground, is run as an independent organisation and is a registered charity, and was opened in 1989 after a team of volunteers raised an initial sum of £100,000.

That figure has now been significantly boosted thanks to Miss Watts’ legacy. “We think that in 2004 Mr David Watts, an active club member, died and left his estate to his sister with the understanding that when she died the Cricket Museum would be one of her beneficiaries,” said the chairman, Charles Clive Ponsonby-Fane.

“Next year will be the museum’s 21st birthday. This generous gift will allow us all a wonderful opportunity to look back on all that has been achieved and explore our aspirations for the future. It is my hope that we can safeguard the wellbeing of the Somerset Cricket Museum for the generations to come.”

Sussex will take on Hampshire in the Friends Provident Trophy final on July 25 but they will be without the support of their mascot, Sid the Shark, who will not be allowed into Lord’s in keeping with its traditional atmosphere.

Sussex fans were not pleased with the decision and set up a petition protesting against the move. "It was quite a surprise to hear that Lord's would not let Sid in,” Dave Brooks, Sussex chief executive told Sky Sports. "He enjoys great support among all the Sussex fans at Hove, and it is clear they want to send a message to the authorities that this decision needs reversing."

Clare Skinner, the MCC's media manager, said "Lord's has a no fancy dress policy in place for all matches and this applies to anyone entering the ground, including mascots.”

When James Franklin dismissed Chris Rogers in Derbyshire’s second innings against Gloucestershire in Cheltenham in the County Championship, the significance of the occasion slipped everybody’s mind, including the bowler's. Four overs later, realisation finally dawned. Franklin had earlier dismissed Tim Groenewald and Steffan Jones off successive balls to round off Derbyshire’s first innings before dismissing Rogers first ball in the second innings, thereby sealing a staggered hat-trick. "I had no idea I'd taken a hat-trick until the umpire reminded me about four overs into my spell," Franklin said. "I've taken one before in Test cricket (against Bangladesh in 2004) but never in first-class."

It brought back memories of another staggered hat-trick during an IPL game in 2008 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens. Like this one, it went unnoticed initially. Chennai’s Makhaya Ntini snared two in two and took the third off the first ball of his next spell. The bowler found out only during the innings break.