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Vandals have ruined a South Devon cricket club by driving in
figures of eight across the square and ripping up the
newly-seeded turf, causing �2,000 worth of damage.
Now the race is on to repair the damage to the Babbacombe
Cricket Club ground at Walls Hill, Torquay, in time for the
start of the season in May.
A member of the local Neighbourhood Watch heard a car driving at
speed, with no headlights on, in circuits around the square at
about 10.30pm on Monday, and phoned police.
Surveying the damage the next morning, Torbay Council Parks
Officer Ian Williams said:
"It looks terrible. There is probably about �2,000 of
damage. The cricket club lease it from us and they are going
to have quite a bit of work to tidy it up."
Club chairman Rob Bloxham said the fight was now on to repair
the damage:
"This is very disappointing for the club and quite
disturbing. Hopefully the cost will be kept down because we
rely heavily on our volunteers. We all got together and did
a lot of work when we re-seeded back in October and it was
just coming very green and very lush. It looked great. But
we had problems because the yobs kept coming down and
removing the posts which rope off the cricket square.
Luckily all the dog walkers are very good and they don't
walk over the square, even if the rope's been pinched. I'm
not an expert but hopefully we will have time to get it done
again before the season. We have to. But the question is
whether it will be good enough to play a good standard of
cricket on. We get a lot of touring sides who love to play
at Babbacombe because we play in a really big bowl, a bit
like Cockington."
First team captain Paul Bates said:
"We have had a bit of trouble up at the club recently.
Nothing too major up until now, but volunteers from the club
would pull together to try to repair the square in time for
the cricket season on May 1."
A police spokeswoman said:
"There was a report of a vehicle at the cricket club.
Police did not attend."
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