LANKY THE GIRAFFE has been accused of cheating in the mascot race at the T20 Blast finals day on Saturday.

Cricket fans have even called for the massive giraffe to be stripped of his title.

The Lancashire mascot crossed the line in first place to win the race at Edgbaston.

However, footage of the race’s start has suggested Lanky should have been given a false start.

As the race officials count down for the start of the race, the giraffe appeared to go early.

His fast start gave him an advantage over his rivals and allowed him to go on to win the race.

Reacting to the controversy, Lancashire tweeted a clip of the race, including the start.

Alongside the video, they wrote: “Following today’s mascot race (footage attached) at Edgbaston and numerous accusations of cheating towards eventual winner Lanky, admin would like to say: The game’s the game!”

Meanwhile, the official Edgbaston Twitter account responded to another angle of the incident by saying: “Days ruined.”

Fans were equally unimpressed, with one commenting: “Against the spirit of cricket stuff from Lancashire’s Lanky the Giraffe at Finals Day. Boos from the Hollies. Surely must be stripped of the mascot race title.”

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Another also wrote: “That’s an outrage.”

A third cricket fan added: “Blatant cheating in a fan race.”

One more said: “He should have had a false start there.”

Away from the mascot race, Hampshire, Essex, Somerset and Surrey were all in action on finals day.

It was Somerset who were victorious, though, beating the Essex Eagles by 14 runs in the final thanks to a half-century from Sean Dickson.