A VILLAGE cricket club barbecue in the peaceful Yorkshire Dales erupted in fury when a farmer, married for 33 years, saw his wife with her new lover.

York Crown Court was yesterday told David Challis, 59, hurled a glass of whisky "like a cricket ball" at his rival and friend Edgar Graham.

Mr Challis, of Halfway House Farm, Middlesmoor, Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, pleaded not guilty to maliciously wounding Edgar Graham in July 1999.

The accused told the court he only intended throwing the contents of the whisky glass into Mr Graham's face for betraying their friendship when they met at the Middesmoor and Lofthouse Cricket Club barbecue, at the Crown Hotel, Middlesmoor, in Upper Nidderdale.

He claimed the glass slipped from his hand and, after shattering on a wall, cut the man causing wounds which needed stitches.

But Mr Graham told the court: "He leaned back and threw something. It was like he was throwing a cricket ball and I felt stinging on my face.

"I had been cut and he called out to me 'You Judas'. I needed five stitches in the wound to my chin."

The hearing continues.