General News
16 July, 2020
Ecklin Cricket Club officials disappointed following latest incident
ECKLIN Cricket Club officials have expressed their disappointment after the club’s ground was targeted by hoon drivers for the second time in 12 months.
ECKLIN Cricket Club officials have expressed their disappointment after the club’s ground was targeted by hoon drivers for the second time in 12 months.
Hoons completed burnouts at the Frogs’ home ground at Ecklin School overnight Friday, damaging sections of turf near the cricket wicket and on the western wing.
The incident comes almost 12 months to the day the eastern wing of the ground was targeted by a then 19 year-old man, who damaged three local sporting ovals in a wild night of hoon driving.
Frogs committee member Kevin Wines said the incident was “disappointing for the blokes who put the work in here”.
He said ground caretaker Lance Finney put in hour after hour to maintain the ground.
“Lance puts a lot of time in all year round, not just through summer and spring when we’re getting it ready to go,” Mr Wines said.
“He was only out here last month cutting the outside of the ground and now this happens so it’s disappointing for him and disappointing for all of us.
“Everyone comments on how good the ground looks because of someone like Lance, but this puts a bit of a dent in what we do. But we’ll fix it up and get going again.”
Mr Wines said the club had spoken with the owner of the land, Mac Jones, following the incident and was now planning to future proof the ground to avoid future incidents.
“We’ll just have to look at fixing up the gates to keep the area closed more often,” he said.
“We were thinking of rehashing the nets a little bit and putting in a screen for the bowling machine for player protection so we might just incorporate that all into a better set of gates.”
Mr Wines said the club would look at applying for a Quick Response Grant through the Corangamite Shire to help with the cost of repairs.
He said they would need tohire a roller, conduct weed management and spray the ground as well as fix the damage which would chew into not only the club’s funds but its members’ time.
