A club has hit vandals for six as the sweet sound of leather on willow has returned to a Petersfield beauty spot.

Petersfield Cricket Club were forced into an unwanted drive late last month after marauding 4x4s churned up their pitch on the Heath.

But anyone who saw the devastation left by the suspected travellers would have been stumped with its revival – with league matches set to resume this weekend thanks to the incredible work of its grounds and maintenance team.

There was a sign of things on come on Sunday, June 9, when a couple of hundred players and fans gathered at the ground for its President’s Day fixture.

Some former players donned their whites in a match between the president’s and chairman’s XIs in a friendly fixture that was also a show of defiance against the morons who left the club with a huge repair bill.

Club captain, Henry Shore, and his colleagues thought it would be a good time to play the historic fixture with a few ex-Petersfield players “from the ages” taking part.

He said: “You’ve got to take your hat off to the grounds team because what they’ve done here is incredible.

“This is the first game we’ve played since the incident. The pitch looks OK from a distance but when you get up close you can see the damage that’s been caused.

“We’ve got to thank Churcher’s College because they’ve been really nice and helped us with a pitch and Bedales have also offered to help.”

The club were overwhelmed with help and support from well-wishers and the cricketing world with a £2,000 www.justgiving.com campaign pulling in nearly double, with donations from all around the UK and abroad.

The club will look at installing ANPR cameras in the event of future incidents.