A village cricket club has been left counting the cost of damage caused to the covers used to protect their square.
Officials at Moulton Harrox Cricket Club discovered on Sunday that the corrugated plasticised sheeting on their covers had been damaged beyond repair.
And the South Lincs and Border League club now faces a race against time to repair its covers in time for Saturday’s home Division One derby duel with Spalding 2nds.
Chairman Roger Grant commented: “It’s very disheartening because a lot of time and effort goes into maintaining the field and the cricket square.
“We have a wonderful ground in a tremendous setting, but the mentality of some people is unbelievable and we really take it to heart.
“It hasn’t been completely smashed up, but they probably didn’t realise what damage has been caused by running up and down them.
“The covers are not usable at all in their present state as the sheeting has been damaged.
“It has been bent and any water has been leaking through and onto the wicket.
“It really does leave us stuck as we have a home game on Saturday and that is in doubt if the wet weather continues because we have nothing to protect the wicket.”
An extra problem for the Broad Lane club – which currently runs three senior and four junior teams – could be finding suitable materials to fix the covers.
Mr Grant explained: “They were very well made and we’ve got to see if they’ve still got that sheeting.
“It’s going to take a tremendous amount of work and labour as the old sheeting will need to be removed before we can replace it with the new one.”
The Harrox chief was, however, upbeat that everyone at the club would rally round to support them.
He enthused: “We are only a small club, but the core membership is great and it’s times like this that the strength shows through.
“There are always people coming up and asking what can be done which is tremendous. They don’t just come here to play cricket.
“It is another job we’ve got to do now, but fortunately some of our younger players have just finished their GCSEs so we’ll be able to get a working party together.”
