Police investigate car fire, vandalism at South Barwon Reserve

Police are investigating after vandals broke into a local cricket’s shed and torched an alleged stolen car near the playing field.

Vandals drove a stolen car through fencing at South Barwon Reserve before conducting burnouts, graffiting equipment and setting the vehicle alight, police say.

The South Barwon Reserve, which is used by Marshall and South Barwon cricket clubs, has been flooded twice during the past 12 months and has also been impacted by the construction of the Barwon Heads Rd upgrade.

Marshall Cricket Club’s former president Russell Menzies noticed the vandalism when he was driving to the Geelong CBD on Monday.

He said the act was another blow to the local sporting community.

“I first noticed an amount of graffiti on the side of the building and on the sight screens,” he said.

“The construction sight for our new training facility had been broken into.”

Marshall Cricket Club former president Russell Menzies said vandals drove through temporary fencing at the club's nets. Picture: Alan Barber

Mr Menzies said vandals drove a car through temporary fencing at the reserve and then proceeded onto the playing surface.

“They’ve done a bit of a ‘wheelie’ and moved on and burnt the car out,” he said.

Fire crews were called to the scene about 6.30am and found the car engulfed by flames.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the car fire was being treated as suspicious and that the incident was under investigation.

Police could not say how many people they were searching for in relation to the incident.

“No one was in the vehicle, which is believed to have been stolen,” she said.

The car was torched in an alcove next to the ground and the flames spread to nearby trees.

“(The car) is beautifully parked ... they’ve perfectly reversed and then torched it,” Mr Menzies said.

Vandals graffitied on walls and sight scenes at the South Barwon Reserve on Monday morning. Picture: Alan Barber

He said the vandalism was “disappointing”.

“We’ve just finished our first week of finals down here on the reserve ... people put a lot of work into the ground and the facilities to make them shine,” he said.

Club members planned to meet at the reserve on Monday to help clean up the damage and assess if any equipment had been stolen.

“Only some construction (and) training equipment is kept in the shed ... it’s more so just been ransacked,” Mr Menzies said.

“It’s been a challenging year ... but it could have been a lot worse.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Originally published as Police investigate car fire, vandalism at South Barwon Reserve