Sports club members were left distraught after vandals drove cars over their pitch leaving it badly damaged.

Two separate attacks on the Salts Cricket Club left its outfield and wicket with huge tyre marks, some three inches deep, caused by wheel spins and hand-brake turns.

Staff at the club were surveying the ground over the weekend to decide how to repair the destruction.

Club secretary Peter Fazackerley said: "There is very bad wheel damage all over the outfield and the square. Some of the wheel damage is as deep as three inches in some places.

"Fortunately the wicket is not as badly damaged because it had just been rolled and was a lot harder than the outfield. All we can do is lift the affected areas with a fork and re-seed it once it's recovered."

Mr Fazackerley said the club had suffered these attacks before but because it was public land Bradford Council wouldn't give permission to install security gates.

He said photographs of the damage would be handed to the Council in a bid to get security poles erected at the entrance to stop unwanted vehicles getting access.

The club's bar manager William Kershaw, who discovered the vandalism, said: "When I arrived on Friday morning there were tyre marks all over the fields.

"They've made a real mess of the cricket area and if this keeps on happening, the pitch won't be worth playing on next year."

Mr Fazackerley said all being well the pitch should be repaired for the start of next year's season.

Dave Ryan, Windhill Cricket Club's manager, said vandals had targeted cricket clubs like Salts because they didn't have locked gates.

He said: "I feel awful for the lads at Salts, it's absolutely despicable. I'm sickened. Last year we had our scoreboard vandalised after someone broke into it and smashed it up causing £600 worth of damage.

"We've had some kids here with bikes riding on the pitch before but we're fortunate enough that we've got gates which we can lock at night so we're secure.

"Our problem is kids climbing over the walls to get in and collapsing some of the brickwork in the process. When I was a player at Queensbury Cricket Club I know they had a similar problem to Salts."

Mr Fazackerley said he was appalled when he saw in daylight what damage had been done.

"The vandals have driven across the grass and done handbrake turns. If this belonged to a county club, it would have to dig up the square and re-seed it. This is just terrible."

He said it was the second time in a week that the ground had been hit.

"We have a groundsman who works very hard for us. And I am sure he will be gutted when he discovers what has happened. It will take hundreds of hours to repair this mess," he said.

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