One of England’s oldest cricket clubs has been forced to postpone the start of their season after the pitch was dug up by badgers.

Rickmansworth Cricket Club, which has been in existence since 1787, had been looking forward to seeing their teams kick-starting the season on April 20 with fixtures at their Scots Hill home.

However, the arrival of the protected mammals in the past few days has seen a large number of unsightly and potentially dangerous holes appearing in the manicured turf.

Chairman Mark Raine, who took over this year, said the area affected, estimated to by 30sq m in size, is on the bowlers’ run up and had been left in a poor state.

He said: "It looks like someone has turned up with a mortar and tried to trash it.

"This has only been going on for a couple of days but at the moment we have lost 30sq m on the bowlers run up.

"Our current games that are scheduled for April 20 won’t be played.

"I have been involved with the club for 25 years and this is never something we have had to deal with before.

"It is not the kind of way I would like to start my first season as the new chairman."

The badgers are understood to have been attracted by a type of fly which lays its larvae in the grass.

Under normal circumstances the club would put a spray down to clear the insects but this year has been unable to do so due to the cold weather.

And any attempt to remove the badgers is likely to contravene the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 which makes it illegal to kill, injure or disturb badgers or to destroy their setts.

Mr Raine added: "It is something that comes down and lays its larvae in the grass, when they do the badgers come to the surface and take the turf out.

"You can treat it but only once the ground gets above eight to 12 degrees.

"There is nothing we can do about the badgers, they are protected.

"There is a period when they do finish but we just have to wait for that to happen."

The club runs five Saturday cricket teams plus a Sunday team and colts teams for around 100 four to 15-year-olds.

On Saturday between 10am and 1pm, a working party from the club are to upgrade facilities for the coming season including re-painting the scoreboard, removing and storing rugby posts and clearing out store cupboards.