A community cricket pitch that was destroyed by vandals just two days after it was completed will be replaced next year.
The Freemen of Newcastle have confirmed that they will install a new wicket on the field in Walter Terrace, in the West End of the city, after it was damaged this summer.
The synthetic pitch was one of two installed, alongside another in Jesmond, after the Freemen were awarded a £24,000 grant from the English Cricket Board (ECB) to create new facilities for grassroots players.
But the Wingrove wicket lasted just a couple of days before it was set upon by vandals, who appeared to have cut the newly-laid turf in half and carried a section away overnight from 2 to 3 August.
The Freemen, who manage the Town Moor alongside Newcastle City Council, have now confirmed that they will replace the surface at their own expense once better weather returns in the spring.
Nick Atkinson, the group’s vice chairman, told a meeting on Monday that they had “decided to leave the site until spring, but we will be reinstalling it at our own cost so that it is there for the community.”
Speaking at a meeting of the council’s Town Moor Joint Working Group, Labour councillor Ged Bell said he had been left distressed by the destruction of the pitch.
He added: “I think the stewards of the Freemen should be applauded for their work on this. I used to play on that wicket up there and it was great to see it brought back. I was devastated to see the damage, it was unbelievable that someone would do that.”
David Wilson, the chair of the Freemen, said he believed that the vandalism and removal of a chunk of the ECB-approved surface “had to be a planned crime” and that the offenders would have needed a vehicle to carry the turf away.
Explaining how the group planned to block off any vehicular access to the pitch to avoid a repeat incident, he added: “You can’t keep repeating the same thing and hope it gets better. We are taking action to mitigate it. If there is no vehicle access there, then it would take several people to carry it away.”
Northumbria Police confirmed it has yet to make any arrests over the incident and is still appealing for witnesses to come forward.
The force said that anyone with information should get in touch by sending a message on social media or through the live chat function of its website, quoting crime number 091074C/24.
