The Friends Provident Strimmer

A group of financial advisors were given an unexpected surprise at a seminar in Leeds on Tuesday, when the centrepiece of a presentation by the cricket-sponsoring insurance company, Friends Provident, was accidentally switched in transit.

Delegates at the Tenet Group Annual Conference at the Queens Hotel in the city centre had been expecting to view the FP Trophy itself, which was won by Hampshire in last season’s final at Lord’s. Instead they were offered ... a strimmer.

“Apparently they were supposed to have the cricket trophy there, but the courier company brought the wrong box,” said Darren Harvey, one of the delegates at the event. “That means someone has the Friends Provident Trophy, and is probably trying to do his hedge with it!”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that one,” a spokesman for FP told Cricinfo.