There are many uses for a cricket bat, as Daniel Brookes found out when he attempted to rob a house in the village of Alderley Edge in the English county of Cheshire. Thea Taylor, a mother of two, was woken from her sleep in the early hours of the morning by the sound of intruders and grabbed the nearest thing - a bat used in the Ashes and signed by members of the England squad. Wielding the bat like a lightsabre, Taylor chased the intruder out of her house. An alert passerby noted down the getaway vehicles license plates and the perpetrator was duly apprehended by the local authorities.

The bat belonged to Taylor's husband after he bid for it in a charity auction. "I can't remember how much we paid for it but it is definitely now my lucky bat and worth its weight in gold," said Taylor, whose batsmanship so impressed a recorder judge that she issued her a Crown Court Commendation for chasing Brookes out of the house.

Brookes' lawyer was left with little more to say than the choice made by the defendant, when confronted by a lady with a cricket bat, was to run, and not retaliate.

Burglars be forewarned - anyone entering Taylor's house without permission stands to become the subject of a hook shot to the head.