Wisbech Cricket Club pavilion.

CHAIRMAN Gavin Plume has condemned the vandals who broke into Wisbech Cricket Club’s storage shed and pushed their tractor into a ditch.

Police are appealing for information after the break-in at the club’s Harecroft Road ground, which happened some time between 4pm on Friday and 7am on Saturday.

Offenders caused hundreds of pounds of damage when they dragged a tractor out of the shed and abandoned it in a ditch after it failed to start. Grass-cutting equipment and tables, which were stored in the unit, were also damaged.

Mr Plume said: “I got a message on Saturday morning from residents who had seen that the gates of the shed were open and that the tractor was in the dyke.

“It was locked and secured very well. They are thick iron doors but they managed to get in somehow.

“We thought originally that they had started the tractor, had a joy ride and then crashed it. But it looks like they pushed it out and couldn’t start it.

“We have had two or three incidents over the past couple of years - damage to the wicket and people breaking into the pavilion and shed.

“It’s just one of those things really. There wasn’t a massive amount of damage and it could have been a lot worse. We are probably looking at a couple of hundred pounds rather than thousands.

“It’s pathetic really.”

PC Carl Stoppard, investigating, said: “The offenders caused quite a bit of damage to the equipment stored in the shed and I would urge anyone with any information to call police.”

Anyone with any information should call PC Stoppard on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.