County club bans sixes due to neighbour complaints

The Southwick and Shoreham cricket club players have been banned from hitting sixes after neighbours complained of damage to their property.

Players from the club near Brighton, which was formed in 1790, have been told they will receive no runs if they hit the ball over the rope under the unusual rule change. If they hit a second "six", they will be given out.

The change comes following complaints of damage to cars and windows from residents living in the houses which surround The Green in Southwick, the club's home ground.
"It's a very small ground," said a nearby neighbor Mary Gill to MailOnline. 

"My parents and grandparents lived in this house before me and cricket balls were always sailing over and causing damage," she added. "One time – probably in the 1940s – my baby brother was outside in the garden and my mother found a cricket ball in his pram. Over the years we've had tiles smashed off the roof, windows broken and all sorts of damage," the 80-year-old recalled.

"Everything is about health and safety these days and insurance companies are charging a fortune to indemnify sports clubs against accidental damage or injury to bystanders," one player told the Daily Mail.

"If you buy a house next to a cricket ground then you've got expect a few cricket balls in your garden."

Another player was incredulous at the club-specific rule change.

"How can you ban it? It's ridiculous," he told the Mail. "To take that away removes the joy of it. I don't agree that the rules should be tinkered with in this fashion."

The club's treasurer, Mark Broxup, said the move had been introduced to avoid future legal or insurance costs.

"We took the proactive decision to ban sixes at the ground after a few incidents in the past when cars, houses and even roofs were damaged," Broxup said.

"We don't want to have to pay costly insurance or have any legal claims against us so it seemed a sensible thing to do."