CRICKET club bosses have been left devastated after their clubhouse was broken into — for the fifth time.

Thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused during the latest break-in at Farnworth Cricket Club earlier this month.

Two men – who were caught on CCTV – broke in through a back door, and smashed four more doors to get into the bar to raid the tills. They also smashed a number of alarms, broke down the umpire's door and were seen attempting to raid the bar and storeroom.

The thieves did not find any money or take any items from the clubhouse – but bosses have been left with a huge bill to repair the damage.

Club Chairman Phil Speak said: "When something like this happens, when our members are trying to generate money for the club, it is just disheartening. It does feel like a violation. Just leave us alone; we are doing all this for the community, we have young lads playing cricket staying off the streets, and then someone does this!

"It's terrible. You go home, go to bed and get a phone call at three in the morning and have to go round there and see all this damage. The alarm was set off when they broke in so they weren't in there for long, but had they been there any longer there may have been a lot worse. It is really frustrating because you just don't know what you can do."

The triggered alarm was alerted to the police who attended the scene shortly after, causing the men to flee – and an investigation is underway.

The club has put the CCTV footage on its Facebook page along with images of the thieves in the hope it will help track the suspects down. Since being posted on Thursday, the video has been viewed 24,000 times and shared by nearly 500 people.

A Greater Manchester police spokesperson said: "We are currently going through CCTV of the area trying to identify some possible suspects but we have not made any arrests. The investigation is ongoing."

Anyone with information about the break in on April 16 is asked to contact police on 101.