A village cricket club is on the back foot after thieves stole expensive new mowing equipment. It came on the day when long-serving volunteer groundsman Gordon Taylor retired from his job as a golf course green- keeper.

He left his retirement farewell at Wychwoods Golf Club, near Chipping Norton, yesterday to check on the state of the cricket ground in his home village of Great Tew.

The pavilion door had been broken down and two new mowers, costing more than £4,000, were missing from a store.

In addition, there was a gaping hole in the canvas top of one of three new covers the club has been making for the beginning of the new season.

Mr Taylor, 65, has helped look after the cricket field and square for the past 50 years, starting when he was a keen teenage cricketer. His son Kevin, the club captain, shares some of the voluntary work with him.

"It's a blow for all of us, particularly for Dad as he retired from work yesterday," he said.

"You don't want this sort of thing right at the start of the season. We've now got to see whether we can replace the mowers quickly.

"You can't lift them easily into the back of a van, so they obviously knew what they were coming for."

Police visited the club and have appealed for information. The thieves broke in on Thursday night.

The two stolen machines are a Toro 216 ride-on mower and a Toro Greenmaster.

The club plays in the Cherwell League which starts next weekend and on Sunday is due to play in the national NPower Village Cup at Freeland.