MORE than £15,000 worth of damage has been caused by a fire at Newport Cricket Club – just three weeks before an international team are due to play there.

The accidental fire broke out in a storage shed at the ground at Spytty Park at around 1.10pm on Thursday.

Crews from Maindee, Duffryn and Cwmbran spent an hour at the scene with two breathing apparatuses and one hosereel jet.

Two mowers, a scarifier and all of the junior teams’ equipment were destroyed in the blaze, according to head coach Mike Knight.

Mr Knight, from Rogerstone, was at the ground at the time and said that although it was a “big blow” it could have been a lot worse.

He said: “We were at the ground and someone saw some smoke coming from the back shed.

“We thought, ‘This was more than a fire we can deal with’ so we called the fire brigade. We think we dealt with it quite quickly.

“It’s a setback but hopefully we’ll get through it and get it sorted. If it had been overnight, it could have been really damaging. “

Insurance assessors visited the site today, and it is thought the fire was caused by an electrical fault.

As staff were around, the fire did not spread to the main building and matches were played just hours later at the ground, which has been Newport Cricket’s home for a quarter of a century.

It means that county cricket is still on course to return to Newport for the first time in 26 years when Glamorgan entertain Pakistan A at Spytty Park on Friday, July 15 – much to the relief of Mr Knight.

He added: “It’s not ideal it happening in the middle of cricket season but we’ll cope with it.”