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Ever wanted to lean over and give your loved one a smooch between overs, at the cricket? If you're in New Zealand, don't even think about it. Public displays of affection became the latest crowd activity to be put on the endangered list, when officials at the recent one-day international against Sri Lanka at Napier, warned two women who locked lips to cool, it after their spontaneous embrace was flashed up on the big screen, to raucous applause.

One of the kissers, Richelle Fitzgibbon, said she was having "a bit of fun". "The security guy came up and said that we were distracting the crowd, and we would get kicked out if we did it again," Fitzgibbon, 29, told the Hawkes Bay Today newspaper. "I thought if it was a guy and a girl kissing, would they have done that?" the mother-of-three said. "I doubt it would have distracted the players."

The other woman, 20-year-old Kelly Holdway, was also taken aback. "My boyfriend was quite shocked. He couldn't believe it. It just got a bit overboard. It was all in fun," she said.

While some believe the whole incident was a cunning ploy to liven up one-day cricket, it appears, there is no plan to crack down on kissing at Australian grounds this summer. "I would have to say that's one particular question that we've never considered," said Cricket Australia's bemused public affairs manager Peter Young.

"One of the things about the summer that's been great, is that spectators have been so happy and we certainly encourage that. But as far as how far they take their happiness, that's up to them," he said, seemingly impressed with Extra Cover's bold reporting.

"The year is less than two weeks old, and thus far, that was the most interesting and the silliest question I have been asked."

Meantime, the mystery of the banned beach ball at cricket grounds has been solved. "It is management's concern that people punching the beach ball, if they miss it, could punch another spectator, and the insurance people have got a concern about that," Young explained.

- Courtesy Australian Age

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