It is nearly half a century since the 1975 Ashes Test between England and Australia at Headingley in Leeds was abandoned after the pitch was dug up overnight and splattered with oil. A hand-painted message at the ground spelled out an apology – “Sorry, it had to [be] done” – and a justification: “George Davis Is Innocent.”
The stunt was carried out by friends of the east Londoner to protest his innocence of an armed robbery in Essex for which he was serving a 20-year sentence.
