Livingston Cricket Club was hit by a ‘freak whirlwind’ which damaged equipment at their Dresselrigg ground in Murieston.
Witnesses described two of the wicket covers being swept up into the air before crashing down – despite there being no wind elsewhere in the vicinity. Another cover nearby was completely untouched.
The freak incident happened last week as the club was preparing to get its season up and running on Saturday.
Club captain Ahmed Ali described his ‘shock’ at seeing the objects being swept into the air, saying: "Three of us arrived at the club to do some warm-ups and all of a sudden we heard a noise of metal.
“At first we thought it might have been our sight screen but then we turned around to see what was happening and saw one of our covers was eight to 10 feet in the air.
“We were in total shock because there was no wind anywhere else. We tried to figure out what was happening when another one got swept up about 10 feet in the air then almost twirled before coming down and crashing on top of the other one.”
Club chairman Gordon Young told the Courier: “It must have been incredibly localised because a third one sitting right next to it was completely untouched. It must have been some kind of freak whirlwind.
“There was no damage to anything else at all in the surrounding areas. No branches falling off the trees or damage to the foliage or anything like that.
“We’re all at a complete loss to explain it but they’re heavy pieces of equipment. The wind must have been incredibly strong to lift them up but also in such a small area given nothing else was damaged. We’ve never seen anything like that before.”
He added: “We’ve got a few people at the club who are going to try and fix it but if not, it will cost us a fair amount to replace, which is the last thing we need.
“The wheels came off and a lot of the metal has been bent by the impact of the crash. It’s not something we ever anticipated having to deal with, that’s for sure.”
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