Ramsey Cricket Club has been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket after thieves broke into a garage and stole a haul of equipment on Wednesday night.

Cans of petrol and diesel, a grass strimmer and a number of tools were stolen after thieves tore off the padlocked and re-enforced door to the club’s garage at the recreation ground, in Cricketfield Lane.

Club officials said that the cost of the insurance excess to make a claim for the stolen items would be more than they are worth and so replacing the items will have to come out of already squeezed budgets.

Club chairman Stephen Buddle said: “To go out and buy the items and replace the petrol and tools is an expense which the club could well do without.

“It just means that it’s money that won’t be spent on other areas, like the junior section, for next season.

“Fortunately, our lawnmowers, which are normally stored in the garage, have gone away to the guy who services them over the winter or they may well have been stolen as well.”

Mr Buddle said money would have to be spent to secure the garage door once more and that extra security measures may well have to be considered in the future.

Mr Buddle said the thieves left tyre marks and footprints in the mud around the garage and that forensic teams from Cambridgeshire police had been out to survey the scene.

Anyone with information about the incident should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.