After two years of controversy, the giant eggs at the County Ground finally came down to earth with a bump yesterday.

One of the 14ft eggs was left in pieces as workmen went about the task of removing them in a less-than-delicate fashion.

Men were lifted in a crane to cut the eggs down from the floodlights at the Hove cricket ground, where they had become a familiar - and to some people, unpopular - sight.

The eggs had been expected to remain in place for another five weeks.

They were put up to advertise Hailsham-based egg producer Stonegate. The company has already terminated its four-year sponsorship deal with the club.

David Gilbert, chief executive of Sussex County Cricket Club, said: "The sponsors decided to take them down early.

"Stonegate decided to terminate a four-year contract to sponsor the floodlights after two years, saying they found it wasn't working with clients.

"We find that difficult to believe, given the popularity of floodlit cricket. We have the only floodlit county ground in the country and a late-night game last week attracted 4,500 people."

The plastic eggs went up around the ground two years ago without planning permission.

Initially a retrospective planning application went in from the club but, following Stonegate's decision to pull out, it was withdrawn.

The news delighted residents and animal rights protesters who had repeatedly called for the eggs' removal.

Residents objected to them on the grounds that they impacted on the appearance of a conservation area. Animal rights protesters said they represented a company which produced eggs from battery-farmed chickens.

Mr Gilbert said: "The only reason we did not get planning permission in the first place was because we did not realise we needed it.

"We are looking for sponsorship for the floodlights for the remaining two years and will make sure that whoever takes over is represented at the ground in a way which is satisfactory to everyone."

Animal rights activist Valerie Paynter, of The Drive, Hove, said: "This is a victory for leaflet-power. I told the cricket club I would be demonstrating at every match until those eggs came down. We were very angry they were put up there in the first place.

"They were just a nasty, vulgar fairground attraction, nothing to do with cricket. We didn't want to look at them from our top-floor flats two streets away."