Cricketers were left stranded in the pavilion after vandals poured weedkiller on their pitch, writes Andrew Ffrench

Kidlington Cricket Club's First XI home fixture against Freeland was cancelled on Saturday when the Oxfordshire Cricket Association ruled they could not use their artificial pitch as a substitute.

The attack was the second on the Crown Road club's cricket pitch. On the first occasion, the playing surface was damaged when petrol was poured on it. Club staff have reported the second incident to police and are appealing to league bosses to allow them to use the artificial playing surface while the other is repaired.

Club chairman Nick Duval said: "It would be a great shame if vandals were allowed to dictate how much cricket is played in Kidlington this summer.

"The weedkiller has had a very bad effect because the grass won't grow and it makes the earth underneath all lumpy. Whoever did this did it deliberately.

"It could cost us £50 a time to hire another pitch for home matches. "We think the artificial strip is fine for playing on. Our junior teams play on it and have no problems.

"We think the league stopped the fixture at the weekend because they thought it would give us an unfair advantage.

"We are appealing to the league bosses for help because we could lose a lot of revenue over this and it is not our fault. Stopping fixtures is allowing the vandals to win."

Kidlington Cricket Club is moving next season to a new ground at Stratfield Brake. The £1.6m development has been funded by the National Lottery and local council donations.

Mr Duval added: "The new ground will be an excellent facility, but meanwhile we have to play at Crown Road.

"Until the damaged strip recovers the only way to do that is to play on the artificial pitch."

Story date: Tuesday 04 May

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