ARSONISTS caused thousands of pounds worth of damage by setting alight storage huts at a Bolton cricket club.

Firefighters were called to Astley Bridge Cricket Club's Sharples Park ground at 5.30pm on Friday to be faced with two outhouses that engulfed in flames.

The blaze began away from the main cricket club building at the Blackburn Road end.

Moments before the fire a cricket club member driving past the ground saw someone climbing over the walls into the ground and has since given a description to detectives.

Cricket club chairman Michael Warren, who was called to the ground, said he had been left "gutted" by the attack.

The two cabins contained gardening equipment including a lawnmower and expensive training mats.

"We are looking at our insurance to be able to replace the equipment but it will take us some time," said Mr Warren. "Thankfully we are out of the cricket season now and we should have it replaced before the start of the next season."

Mr Warren said the club had suffered minor incidents of vandalism in the past but nothing on this scale.

"We are looking at thousands rather than hundreds of pounds to replace the equipment," he said. "The club is run on a voluntary basis and the equipment was paid for through various fundraising events over a period of months. It took a lot of hard work by the members to raise the money and now it is all gone. We would love to see whoever did this caught."