WESTBURY & District Cricket Club members, who were left devastated after their side screens and wicket covers were slashed with a knife by vandals, have praised the local community who have helped raise funds for repairs.
Over the evening of Tuesday 29th May, after the groundsman had moved the covers to protect the wickets, the side screens and wicket covers were vandalised with slats from the screens kicked in, knife slashes in the covers and a hosepipe cut in half.
White Horse News spoke to Westbury & District Cricket team player, Rich Oakley who said, “It may just look like a piece of white material, but the covers are really expensive. They are waterproof and essential to us to protect the pitch. The covers had around six slashes to them and both side screens were damaged. As a self-funded club, we don’t have the funds to repair them.
“The community has been mega generous in their help to fund the repairs on our ‘gofundme’ page. It has been really surprising and shows that the club is being noticed. The help has been overwhelming really.”
Due to not having the club funds to repair them themselves, Westbury & District CC sent up a GoFundMe page to ask for help from the community, which was the initial idea of followers of the club who were looking to help.
Donations from supporters and also businesses and fellow cricket teams have allowed the team to raise over half of their target in under two weeks. At the time of writing, the page had received £870 of their £1,500 goal.
If you would like to contribute to the team, visit their ‘gofundme’ page at https://www.gofundme.com/westbury-cricket-club-repair-fund.
