I was listening to Talksport yesterday afternoon while driving and came across this gem of a story that could only happen in the world of Cricket.

It must be one of the first ever instances of recorded sledging in cricket, but the punishment surely did not fit the crime !

Retired rector Dennis Hibbert, now 84, was 14 when he jeered at a bungling fielder in 1938 during a Derby match against local rivals.

As the fielder ran round the boundary and the ball went through his legs and over the rope for four, Dennis shouted, “You big fat fool”.

A committee member heard his comment and immediately ejected Dennis form the ground, and was told that he was banned for life, as “Those type of comments have no place on a cricket field.”

Dennis dutifully respected the ban, and it was only this month that the Club’s committee held a special meeting following local pressure to lift the ban.

Club secretary Jim Dymond said: “It must be the longest ban on record. But we are now satisfied that Mr Hibbert has been punished enough.”

Dennis, of Nuthall, Notts — now a grandfather of five — said: “I have followed the results in the local paper for 70 years, so it will be nice to get back into the ground and watch the boys in action again.”