Warrnambool College facilities and maintenance manager Phil Lawrence has expressed his disappointment at recent damage to Wenborn Oval's new hard wicket.
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The oval - within the school grounds - is one of two home grounds of Warrnambool and District Cricket Association club Nestles.
Lawrence told The Standard golfers had been playing on the freshly laid wicket, rendering it unusable.
He added it wasn't the first time the pitch had suffered extensive damage.
"Cricket Victoria gave us a grant last year to re-do the pitch and give us new turf and now somebody has been playing golf and took out big divots," he said.
"We've had reports from members of the public that they've seen people playing golf so it's definitely what it is, it's been caused by golfers.
"It's to the point where cricketers can't even use it now.
"This is the second or third time - a few years ago someone set fire to the pitch and previous to that somebody had done burnouts on the initial pitch.
"It's disappointing considering all the work and energy that went into the new pitch.
"It's only been down since last season, only 12 months so it's disappointing."
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While frustrated at the situation, Lawrence said work was under way to scramble and get the pitch replaced before the cricket season starts in October.
He indicated he was confident a new pitch would be put in time.
"We've got to now get it replaced again and somehow before the season starts," he said.
"We've got to work on it straight away or we'll run out of time, it now needs to be done during school time so it'll be a disruption to the kids for a short period of time."
Nestles president Gary Maclean said it was a frustrating situation.
"It's disappointing, we got some grants and raised some money to get a nice big pitch and to have it damaged is frustrating," he said.
"We're hopeful the school will get a new one in, it should all come together."
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Nick Creely
Sports reporter with The Standard
Sports reporter with The Standard
