BARNSLEY Woolley Miners are hoping to start playing and netting at Shaw Lane again after a group of travellers left in midweek following six days on the site.
The Shaw Laners called off their game on Saturday after travellers camped in the car park then, later, moved onto the cricket pitch. The match against Appleby Frodingham was abandoned after 44 overs following alleged threats of violence against Barnsley players.
That game is due to be rearranged.
Barnsley then switched their scheduled home game to the opponents’ ground on Bank Holiday Monday.
The travellers left late on Tuesday afternoon and, although assessing damage left behind, the club are confident of playing games there from this weekend.
A South Yorkshire Police statement read: “At 5.36pm on Saturday 24 August, we responded to reports of threatening behaviour on Shaw Lane, Barnsley.
“It is reported that a man made threats towards a 62-year-old man. Officers attended and both the victim and suspect had left the scene.
“We were called to reports of a disturbance at the same location at 9.11am on Tuesday 27 August.
“It is reported that a 45-year-old man was assaulted by a group of people, but suffered no injuries.
“A Section 61 Notice, of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Cat 1994 was issued, and the group of people residing in the area left the area.”
Third-bottom Barnsley Woolley Miners won by 106 runs at second-bottom Treeton. Sheryaar Ali hit 54 off 40 balls in Barnsley’s 235 then Adam Copley took five wickets and Liam Johnson four.
Captain Johnson said: “It’s not been an ideal season at all and this is part of it.
“Playing home games away and not being able to net as usual is obviously not good when you’re fighting relegation. The lads showed a lot of resilience to win on Monday.
“We were 160 for six but scraped to a decent score which was just above par then Copley bowled brilliantly.
“We need six points to be safe. It’s fairly unlikely one of the bottom two teams win all their games but we’re not resting on our laurels.
“We’re in a lot better positions after that win. We were sweating a bit.”
