A volunteer groundsman has hit out at vandals who rode their bikes on a newly laid artificial cricket wicket and destroyed a sign warning members of the public not to use the new strip.

Peter Profit said he was very disappointed and frustrated when he went to inspect the wicket yesterday morning at Shelly Bay and found it had been vandalised.

Mr Profit, who gives up his own time during the cricket season to cut the field, told The Royal Gazette that he, Stephen West and two professionals had spent four days clearing the old strip and laying the new one.

“A lot of work went into putting this new strip down,” he said. “To find that people had driven their bikes all over it leaving tyre marks and completed trashed the home-made sign I made is really annoying.

“This is a community area and many people volunteer to make the facilities better for the people who use it during the week and at the weekend.

“There’s no permanent damage and the start of the new evening league won’t be affected, but it’s just a sign of the times.”

Mr Profit and Mr West worked for three days from April 15 pulling up the old wicket and removing eight years’ worth of dust that had accumulated under the fabric. On Friday they enlisted the help of two local tradesmen to help to lay the new artificial wicket.

“It’s just a shame that they decided to totally ignore what we were asking,” Mr Profit said.

“They tore up my sign and moved two of the concrete blocks on to the wicket before riding all over the new surface, leaving big black marks.

“If I had seen them doing it I would have chased them all the way home and spoken with their parents.”