CRICKETERS of the Sheerness East club face being thrown off their pitch to allow for more football.

The blow came this week in a letter to the club from Sheerness East Working Men's Club committee, responsible for running the Halfway Oval ground.

Without consulting the cricket club, who have been resident for 80 years, the committee warned them they may have two weeks to vacate.

Paul Butler, the cricket club's treasurer, said: "We are absolutely devastated.

This is a hasty decision made by non-cricketers and bully-boy footballers. They want more summer football played at the ground. We were not even warned, which is a disgrace."

But WMC secretary Ken Yates denied it was a done deal. He said: “This is just a proposal, no final decision has been made.

"Mr Butler and his club, who have known about our request to disband for a while, may be able to persuade the committee to keep them on."

More time

The cricket club are asking for more time to put together an appeal. Mr Butler said: "They're talking about increasing revenue, but we have been playing more cricket than ever on the pitch.

"We have a wide section of the community playing for us from children to pensioners and if we are closed down that's an important resource lost forever.

"I can remember when there were six or so cricket clubs on the Island If we go there will only be two, which would be a real shame. This is a short-sighted decision as there are already plenty of football pitches on the Island."