Back to work for cricket streaker Chad Sharp

IT WAS back to business as usual for Wamberal resident Chad Sharp this week, but just what is usual for the SCG streaking sensation is certainly up for debate.

Chad Sharp removes a stump as he invades the pitch during the Big Bash League match between the Sydney Sixers and the Sydney Thunder at Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

• Moment SCG streakers decided to run
• Streakers invade SCG during Sydney Thunder win

IT WAS back to business as usual for Wamberal resident Chad Sharp this week, but just what is usual for the SCG streaking sensation is certainly up for debate.

The Terrigal Sharks Rugby League player returned to work as a builder on Monday a different man, after he and cousin Josh Hudson stripped down to their birthday suits and charged across the hallowed Sydney Cricket Ground turf midway through the Big Bash fixture between the Sydney 6’ers and Thunder on Saturday.

Mr Hudson made it across the oval and back into the stands before being caught, while Mr Sharp was eventually overwhelmed by guards after he made a beeline for the crease and removed a stump.

The streak was a brief flash point in an otherwise bleak derby match, where the Thunder thumped their cross-town neighbours by eight wickets with 10 overs to spare.

For their part, the boys were fined $5500 each, are due to appear in court later this year, and are banned from Cricket Australia events for three years.

But what looked like a spur-of-the-moment decision, however, was in fact the product of a Facebook post.

Chad Sharp, who crowd funded before streaking at the SCG, was back to work on Monday. Picture: Mark Scott

“I just sent a message out to my friends saying ‘I’m thinking about streaking – can anyone throw in for the fine?’” Mr Sharp said.

“And all our friends were like ‘oh yeah we’ll help you out’. And then my cousin put a thing on Facebook and then we started getting support from Facebook friends.

“And once I sort of said I was going to do it I couldn’t back out.

“We thought about it then we thought ‘yep let’s go’.”

The pair raised $800 through the social media network, and Mr Sharp said his benefactors had but one request before they stumped up the cash – without which he may have escaped unscathed.

Josh Hudson and Chad Sharp who crowdfunded before a nudie run during the Sydney Sixers V Sydney thunder BBL match at the SCG.

“All the ones that threw in said they (weren’t) going to pay me unless I got a stump, unless I made it to the pitch and got a stump,” he said.

“So I was like, far out, no worries.

“That’s why I sprinted straight for the stumps, got the stump and slipped over.”

The rules against pitch invasion are strongly upheld at the SCG, where guards are armed with blankets to ensure they cover the streakers as soon as possible and normal play resumes.