A WEEKEND attack has seen cricketers unable to practice ahead of the season and left them with a hefty repair bill.
The practice facilities at Twyford and Ruscombe Cricket Club in Stanlake Meadow, Twyford, were targeted sometime between Friday, May 17 and Sunday, May 19. The vandals cut large holes in the nets rendering them useless.
And this isn’t the first time that the snip happy vandals have struck: there were two attacks during the 2017/18 season, leading to a recent refurbishment.
The club’s chair, Simon Burr, said: “It’s not so much the cost of replacing the nets as the massive inconvenience.
“We have spent a lot of money improving the nets here and a lot of our members have given up their time to put them together.
“We spent a particularly cold day during the Beast from the East last year putting it up, so it’s massively irritating that someone feels they can just come and destroy that.
“The netting is gone too, so it appears that someone feels they can just come along and cut up something that isn’t theirs and take it away.
“This happened before a couple of times in 2017, and we’d really appreciate it if whoever it is took a second to think about what they’re actually doing and how it affects us and the 100 plus boys and girls we have who now can’t practice in the nets.”
The club has informed Thames Valley Police and is urging any witnesses to come forward.
“Stanlake is a busy recreation ground and we hope someone in the village may have spotted this person. If they have, we’d urge them to contact the police,” Mr Burr said.