A local cricket club in Melbourne’s inner south-west has expressed dismay after its turf pitch was destroyed by suspected vandals on motorbikes or e-bikes.
Williamstown CYMS members woke to find deep tyre marks across the wicket at Fearon Reserve yesterday morning.
The club’s head coach, Nick Duxson, said the pitch was roped off after day one of a match was played on Saturday.
The pitch at Fearon Reserve in Williamstown is the third to be vandalised across Melbourne in the past two weeks. (Supplied: Bill Millar)
“Clearly somebody’s made the decision to go out to the middle and get their bike onto the track and make some really deep indentations on the turf wicket,” he told 774 ABC Melbourne.
“It’s incredibly disappointing.“
Victoria Police confirmed it was investigating the incident, which it said occurred at 10:00pm on Saturday.
“It is understood multiple unknown youths on dirt bikes rode on the cricket pitch causing significant damage to the turf,” a police spokesperson said.
East Sunbury Cricket Club’s pitch was damaged by fire 24 hours before the pitch at Williamstown was vandalised. (Facebook: East Sunbury Cricket Club)
It is the latest of several vandalism incidents at cricket club pitches across Melbourne.
East Sunbury Cricket Club, north-west of Melbourne, said its synthetic pitch was damaged by fire on Friday night.
“It looks like someone’s set off a firebomb-type thing or some fireworks and one end of the pitch was engulfed in flames,” club president Alec Boorsma told 774 ABC Melbourne.
Caroline Springs Cricket Club says thousands of dollars and countless volunteer hours are put into maintaining its turf pitch. (Facebook: Caroline Springs Cricket Club)
Two weeks ago, Caroline Springs Cricket Club in Melbourne’s west also had its turf pitch damaged — also believed to have been caused by e-bike riders.
Mr Duxson said local cricket clubs found maintaining a turf wicket challenging enough in itself, with club volunteers spending hours each week getting the surface match-ready.
“It’s the one part of the ground that is probably most valuable in terms of being able to get a game of cricket on,” he explained.
He said the club’s curator was hopeful the pitch could be salvaged prior to the senior team’s second day next Saturday.
“I would say it’s unlikely that we play this weekend, but I think that [the curator] is hoping to give us a chance,” Mr Duxson said.
“It’s going to take weeks, months, just to get it back to the level it was.”
East Sunbury Cricket Club said it was considering alternative venues while its synthetic pitch was repaired and that the damage had come at a high cost to the club.
The club says it is unlikely the pitch will be in a good enough condition to play this weekend. (Supplied: Bill Millar)
“We’ve been very fortunate with our local community; we’ve had a lot of clubs around the Sunbury area reach out to us and offer us their spare grounds,” Mr Boorsma said.
“Be better. You’re not just affecting one person or one club, you’re affecting a community.“
Source: www.abc.net.au
