Vandals have damaged a cricket ground by driving through a fence and across the outfield and pitch.

Deep tyre marks were discovered at Bobbing Court and Lower Halstow by a dog walker on Wednesday last week.

The driver had also gone over the square in the middle, where many hours of work every season are put in on the playing surface.

Assistant groundsman Simon May said: “A 4x4 has been driven through the fence at the bottom and gone straight across the square.

“They drove through a farmer’s field to get to the ground and used wire-cutters to get through the fence.

“There’s a lot of damage on the square itself.”

Mr May said the ground was looked after by volunteers and at the end of the season £400 to £500 was spent on maintaining the pitch area.

“All that hard work has gone to pot” - assistant groundsman Simon May

“Unfortunately, we cannot do anything until March because the grass won’t grow.”

The ground, off Coldharbour Lane, which is also used by Newington Cricket Club, is isolated, Mr May said, and had suffered numerous break-ins and vandalism.

“We’ve had thefts quite regularly. We don’t keep anything up there any more.

“We had a metal container and they even managed to get into that.

“Someone broke into the pavilion about three months ago, but there was no damage and nothing was taken.”

Other damage was reported to have happened in Faversham this month, where Davington Priory’s ground was targeted.

Anyone who can help with information should call police on 101.