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Test match pitch invader Daniel Jarvis gets suspended jail term

PA Media Daniel JarvisPA Media
Daniel Jarvis has been a serial pitch invader, the court heard

A YouTube prankster who collided with England cricketer Jonny Bairstow after invading the Oval pitch has been warned by a judge he will face a "sticky wicket" if he defies court orders.

Daniel Jarvis was handed an eight-week jail term suspended for two years for aggravated trespass.

He hid in the toilets on day two of the fourth Test against India in September 2021, and ran onto the field of play.

Wearing an India shirt, the 34-year-old tried to bowl at England.

Appearing at Croydon Magistrates' Court, he was also banned from attending any venue where a sporting fixture is being held in England and Wales for two years, from travelling abroad for 12 months and made subject to a rehabilitation activity requirement.

Jarvis, who has a YouTube account with more than 170,000 subscribers, denied he had intended to disrupt the match and claimed he had made his videos for the "people's pleasure", and had received "positive" feedback on them.

"I get loads of people saying they have got mental health [problems] and my videos make them happy," he told the court.

He said he had "accidentally" made contact with the unsuspecting Bairstow at the non-striker's end of the pitch, admitting "I can't remember the man's name."

But District Judge Daniel Benjamin said Jarvis's culpability was "extremely high" and found he had "deliberately set out to disrupt a high-profile sporting event".

PA Media Daniel Jarvis collides with England batsman Jonny BairstowPA Media
Daniel Jarvis collided with England batsman Jonny Bairstow during the fourth Test at the Oval

"Players and sporting officials do not know whether a person crossing the boundary is intent on doing them physical harm," the judge added.

Sentencing Jarvis, the judge warned him: "If you fail to comply with any of these requirements you will be in breach of this order, which means that you will be brought back to court and you will be on a sticky wicket because you will be liable to serve the sentence of imprisonment, whether in whole or in part".

The serial pitch invader, from Gravesend in Kent, was convicted in 2014 of running onto the field during a football match, and was given a football banning order, which he breached.

He said the intention was to amuse people, but he now "fully realises how serious this is".