A CAMPAIGN has been launched to save a cricket club from closure after high winds destroyed its nets.

Abberton and District Cricket Club needs to raise £22,500 to buy new 40ft-high netting which protects nearby homes from flying cricket balls.

The club says complaints from a neighbour in the Eighties about cricket balls coming too close to his property led to a court injunction, which means it must have the nets up to play cricket at the ground.

Chairman Marc Fox said the club, based in Abberton Road, Fingringhoe, had been due to start the season with two home matches this weekend, but these have had to be postponed.

He added: “The longer we don’t play cricket, the income isn’t coming into our bar, we’re not getting match fees and it’s an on-going scenario.

“If it doesn’t get fixed, the club will fold.

“We are the only licensed facility in the village as during the last few years we have seen the local pub go out of business and now we are the only place where the community can gather together to have a social drink.

“We work really hard to be a part of the community and bring them together at the cricket club.”

The damage to the nets was caused just 24 hours after they was taken out of winter storage, ready for the start of the season.

Neighbours noticed the netting was flapping about and pulling on the poles which hold them in place.

But by the time the club was able to intervene, it was too late to salvage them.

The club, founded in 1947 and with more than 100 members, was told the netting needed replacing entirely but the cost would be £22,500, money it simply does not have.

However, donations have been flooding in since the campaign was launched a few days ago and the club has already raised £1,200.

Mr Fox said: “We are in the process of going through the grants we can possibly get, but we are looking at three to four months before the money comes through.

“The season starts this Saturday.

We cannot play at home. We have spoken to both leagues and both home matches this week have been pushed back until the another available date in the season.

“We have got two home games on April 25 and we have now got to approach the other teams to see if we can play at their ground and take it from there.”

The club hasn’t even been able to take the damaged netting down, so is appealing for someone with a cherry picker to help.

A fundraising website with a contact for the club has been launched at saveabbertoncrick etclub.co.uk/ You can donate to the club at justgiving.com/AbbertonandDistrictCricketClub/ Twitter and Facebook accounts have also been launched.