A Bradford cricket team had to take part in an identity parade at the side of a busy motorway when their minibus was stopped by police investigating an alleged assault on an umpire.

Members of Shimla cricket club were on their way back to Bradford after the abandonment of their bad-tempered match against Sheffield Alliance in the Quaid-e-Azam league.

South Yorkshire Police said they were called to the Rotherham Phoenix sports ground, the venue for the game, at 4pm on Sunday.

A police spokesman said: “Three men were accused of confronting the umpire and it’s believed that one of the men may have struck the umpire, who was an 18-year-old from the Grenoside area of Sheffield.

“The victim suffered no injuries except slight reddening to the left cheek. The three men were from the away team and it appears they were unhappy with a decision made by the umpire.”

The Shimla team’s minibus had departed the ground by the time officers arrived and was stopped on the M1 entry slip road a short time later.

Those inside the minibus were then put into an identity parade to allow the umpire to pick out those he regarded as the perpetrators.

Police said three people were now helping with their inquiries, but stressed that they were being questioned voluntarily and had not been arrested.

Matters came to a head after a series of hotly-disputed umpiring decisions went against the visiting team, who are run by wicket keeper Waleed Ditta, owner of Shimla’s restaurant in Great Horton Road, Bradford.

Mr Ditta, 29, nicknamed Benny, said: “The whole situation was a joke and has been blown out of all proportion.

“We are in third place in the league and we have got some of the best players from the Bradford League in our team, people like Adam Patel and Kez Ahmed.

“This kind of ridiculous allegation makes top players like that look really bad. To make matters worse, on the edge of the motorway, they are put on an identity parade.

“It’s quite embarrassing. Loads of police cars turned up, so it’s a massive waste of police time.

“We had at least 17 decisions go against us in the game. We said to the umpire ‘this is embarrassing’ and he said ‘I have done a course in umpiring.’ “One of their batsmen was clean bowled by our off-spinner Kez Ahmed, who plays for East Bierley, and the umpire said: ‘I can’t give that out because I didn’t see it.’ “It was a joke. We said ‘look, we have had enough, we are walking off.’ Mr Ditta said the only contact between a player and the umpire was when a Shimla bowler accidentally collided with him as he was running up to bowl – an incident Mr Ditta blamed on the umpire’s inability to stand still.

Basharat Hussain, chairman of the league, said: “The matter is under investigation and we are waiting for reports from the official and the two clubs involved.

“The word assault has been mentioned, but that is over the top.

“For some reason the police turned up, but they just said it was a waste of their time.”

e-mail:will.kilner @telegraphand argus.co.uk