A car appeared to have been driven through a fence at the grounds, near Bathurst Cemetery, and then reversed into the cricket nets. 

The car was then set on fire, damaging the cricket pitch beneath it.

Making the situation worse, volunteers for the club had been putting up new nets for the grounds on Sunday to improve the facility.

Club president Richard Newell said the incident occurred sometime after 9.30pm.

“I drove past and flashed my lights to check the progress [of the work] and there was nothing there then,” he said. 

Emergency services were alerted to a fire at Brooke Moore Oval just after 1.30am.

Bathurst Fire Station officer Sandy Collins said crews attended the fire and extinguished it. 

When Mr Newell discovered the damage in daylight, he contacted the police and Bathurst Regional Council. 

A spokesperson for Chifley Local Area Command said that an investigation was underway.

“We’ve obtained a number of photographs and are conducting inquries, but at this stage we are unsure of who the owner of the car is,” they said.

Mr Newell said nothing this serious had occurred at the grounds since the Rugby Union Cricket Club started using it around 10 years ago.

“We’ve not had any events like this before, so in some respects we are pretty lucky,” he said. 

“The only thing we’ve had was, years ago, kids trying to break into the canteen because they thought there was money in there, but nothing else since.” 

He said around $4000 had been spent to improve the cricket nets at the oval, but that cost would rise with the damage from the incident. 

“It is hard enough to get volunteers in to do work to improve it, and now we have to try to fix this,” Mr Newell said. 

Brooke Moore Oval is used regularly in the summer for cricket, with junior players and seniors using the facility most afternoons for training and then games held on the weekends. 

Mr Newell said he would like to get the area cleaned up as quickly as possible, especially with a sign up day for junior players planned for August 25. 

Council will assess the damage and seek quotations for repairs to the facility.