A cricket match involving a team from Keighley had to be abandoned after a lout threatened the players.

The yob traded insults with cricketers from the Keighley-based Azad club and their Leeds rivals Harehills before making physical threats to them.

The umpires consulted the two teams before abandoning the West Riding Sunday Cricket Council match half-way through the game for the players' safety.

League spokesman Grahame Beacher said one of the Azad team had gone to the bar during the mid-innings interval to ask where the sandwiches were when he was confronted by an Afro-Caribbean man.

"Some insults were exchanged and the man, who was apparently 'high', threatened to fetch his mates down to deal with them," said Mr Beacher.

"The umpires were consulted. They would have preferred the game to go on but the atmosphere was fraught and it was agreed that they would call it off so that no one would be hurt in any possible fracas."

Mr Beacher added that both teams were made up of Pakistani players and he believed the incident was race related, which he felt was "very sad."

The clash happened at Woodhouse Cricket Club in Leeds, which Harehills hire for home games.

League secretary Ken Teasdale said a christening celebration was taking place at the club and the lout had nothing to do with either of the cricket teams, who would not face disciplinary action.

Mr Teasdale said such incidents were getting more prevalent.

"It is very worrying and we can do without it. All we want to do is get on and play cricket," he said.

A year ago, Harehills wicket-keeper Qadeer Hussain had his arm broken when a gang stormed the pitch and beat him with a baseball bat during a match with Keighley team Nafees at East Morton. He has not played since.

Last season an umpire and two players were hit during another Harehills home game when a man wandered onto the ground from a nearby estate and started abusing an elderly supporter.

Mr Hussain, 31, said children from the christening had been going on the pitch and interrupting play during Sunday's game before the incident in the bar.

He said: "This sort of thing is getting out of hand. We love cricket and don't want to stop playing, but these sorts of incidents are very worrying."

Azad's game, an end-of-season clash with no promotion or relegation at stake, was abandoned as a draw, with both sides taking one point.

No one from Azad could be contacted for a comment.