MEMBERS of an amateur cricket club in Huddersfield have been stumped by vandals.
They have carved up pitch equipment with power tools - leaving the club with a massive bill.
A pair of sight screens at Armitage Bridge cricket club were attacked by at least one saw-wielding vandal on Friday night.
The £900 screens were sliced in two. Club officials have said they can't afford to replace them and will have to make do with a `bodged job'.
Former chairman Bob Rhodes, who stepped down after three years last week, said the screens had been attacked previously.
He added: "Practically the day before the season started last May someone cut one of them in half.
"We have a good spirit here and it will be more of a financial drain than a drain on morale."
Council worker Mr Rhodes, who has been a member of the Drakes Huddersfield League club for more than 20 years, added: "I think we are the only club who don't pay players.
"When you play for us, you play for the love of the game."
John Bunch, club secretary, said he believed it could only be someone who wanted to get at the club.
He added: "It's premeditated. The cuts are clean. It doesn't seem like it's just teenage vandals.
"It is obviously disheartening and a drain on resources.
"We are running to stand still."
Police are investigating the attack.
Mr Bunch, who has been club secretary for four years, said this sort of vandalism seemed to be a fact of life.
He added: "We had an arson attack two years ago on our club house which we came back from and then there have been these incidents.
"Unfortunately all clubs seem to be prone to this, particularly if they are closed down at night with no bar, as we are."
