SARISBURY Athletic CC have started life in the Southern Electric Premier League’s Premier Division with a failed pitch inspection – despite spending £59,000 on their home ground.

The 2014 division one champions will play their opening ‘home’ game against Alton at Hursley Park CC due to a dangerous outfield, following a winter of redevelopment funded by Sport England (£53,000) and club members (£6,000).

After extending their boundary and installing drainage at the end of last season, the outfield is not yet fit for purpose.

Chairman Gary Scott said: “Due to incorrect top dressing, the outfield’s unstable so it’s dangerous to run on. For this to happen at the beginning of our first season in the Premier Division is really disappointing because we’ve worked so hard to get to this stage.

“The square is the best it’s ever been but the contractors top dressed the outfield all in one go instead of doing it over a number of months.

“The initial boundary extension was done at the end of last season and the drainage was done straight afterwards but they came back to do the top dressing at the beginning of April instead of it doing it over a number of months.

“It’s not what we wanted but we were beholden to the experts. We’re trying to work with the contractors to get it rectified as quickly as possible but we have no idea how long it will take.

“We have a soil specialist giving his assessment on Friday (today) and we’ll forward that on to the contractor.”

Sarisbury’s second game of the season, against the Hampshire Academy, is also scheduled to be at Allotment Road but that fixture will now be reversed and played on the Ageas Bowl’s Nursery Ground.