England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow has been hailed a hero and earned the praise of the British Prime Minister for carrying a protester off the field while other Ashes players protected the Lord’s pitch amid chaos at the second Test.

Two Just Stop Oil demonstrators burst on to the ground five minutes after the start of play at the home of cricket on Wednesday (British time), forcing players to physically stop them from throwing orange paint powder on the pitch.

One was apprehended by Bairstow, a keen rugby league player in his youth, who picked up the protester and carried him 50 metres to the boundary.

Another had to be wrestled to the ground close to the wicket as Ben Stokes and Australia’s David Warner, with bat in hand, barred his way and attempted to tackle him. A third protester was apprehended in the stands, with the trio all arrested.

The incident prompted a delay of only five minutes as ground staff cleared some of the powder from the outfield – but the players had stopped a potentially much-longer delay.

Ashes debutant Josh Tongue even wondered if Bairstow might have saved the five-day match from being cancelled, adding his teammate was a “bit of a hero to be fair”.

“Jonny doing what he did, who knows? The game could have been called off,” Tongue said.

“For myself, I wouldn’t probably go towards them just in case they had anything else on them. Obviously Jonny doing that, maybe he shouldn’t have done that, but I don’t know the protocol.”

An official spokesman for PM Rishi Sunak said: “The Prime Minister is pleased play was able to resume quickly and thanks security staff, the swift hands of Jonny Bairstow and other England players who stepped in.”

Warner reckoned it had been a “touchy situation”, admitting: “Me and Stokesy didn’t really know what to do.”

“It was quite confronting because you don’t know what to do in that situation, you usually let those people run their course, but because they could potentially damage the wicket, we felt like we had to intervene,” the Australian opener said.

“We were actually told to stand away and be careful. But we know what they’re trying to do to the wicket, so it was about – not manhandling them like Jonny – but it was about protecting the wicket.

“I don’t know what that chalk does to the wicket but it would have been a long delay and we wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Officials have been concerned about the threat of protesters disrupting Test matches this summer and the potential of matches being abandoned if pitches are destroyed.

Several major sporting events across Britain, including premier league matches, the premiership rugby final at Twickenham and World Snooker Championships in April had already been targeted by activists.

England’s team bus was also held up by the protesters during the Lord’s Test against Ireland earlier this month.

Curators have prepared a back-up pitch in recent Tests in England in case the main one is damaged. However, that would significantly change match conditions.

Bairstow had handed his protester over to the stewards, before heading to the pavilion to change his whites. But it was noticeable that he and the other players reacted quicker than the ground security.

Broadcasters largely chose not to highlight the incident, but Ricky Ponting couldn’t resist a jokey reference to Bairstow’s first-Test wicketkeeping woes.

“I didn’t want to say anything, but the one chance that’s come Jonny’s way, he’s held on to so far,” the former Australian captain said on Sky Sports.

– AAP