A village cricket club is suspending adult games after receiving "constant" complaints from neighbours .
Colehill Sports and Social Club, in Dorset, is stopping the adult games as it deemed it not "viable to continue", because a number of neighbours to the ground "choose not to embrace [them]".
The captain of the adult team launched a petition in a bid to "save cricket at Colehill", which received more than 20,500 signatures.
George Taylor said that village cricket offered a "community feeling" and was important.
According to the club, the risk of balls landing outside the ground at Colehill had increased in recent years.
It had taken action to limit risks, including moving pitches to one side of the square and introducing a new rule stating that any ball hit over the fence would score no runs - rather than a six.
The club had also applied and received planning permission from the local council to erect a high fence on the road side of the ground, to protect the public highway.
The possibility of full netting being erected to protect neighbouring properties had been discussed, but the club estimated it would cost £30,000-£35,000.
According to a statement from the club, there were many neighbours to the ground that accepted any disruption from games as an "occasional inconvenience", the BBC reports.
"There are many issues which the committee have to deal with in the running of the club, but in recent times upwards of 75 per cent of these relate to adult cricket," it wrote in a statement.
"We don't believe it is viable to continue with adult cricket and face constant complaints and claims from those neighbours who choose not to embrace us."
The 38 degrees petition, created by George Taylor, said the complaints had come from a "small number of neighbours who had recently moved into houses bordering the cricket ground".
"Cricket has been played there over 100 years before they moved in," he said.
Taylor wrote that the team understood risk exists when cricket was played, but that he believed a "more pragmatic approach" could be taken to resolve the dispute.
"We believe the decision to ban adult cricket is not a proportionate response to the risk involved," he said.
"We do not believe the community interest and history of cricket in the village has been taken into account properly and hope this petition will demonstrate its value to the local community," the page read.
Taylor claimed that four villagers had joined the team after the pandemic and one said to him: "Please don't tell me that this is going to be the end of cricket because it means so much."
"That is what has kept me going at times where I thought, is it even worth trying to fight this?" he added.
Youth cricket at local and county level would continue to be played at the club by both boys and girls.
