Just when you think you’ve sent the criminals home with their tails between their legs…

Yesterday saw the Proteas clean up in Jozi and dish out the biggest test defeat in terms of runs since 1934, which would have hurt the Ozzies, but here in Cape Town it was a pretty rough weekend for Newlands Cricket Stadium.

Armed robbers stormed the stadium early on Saturday morning, which is the third robbery the stadium has seen since 2015, although it is the first time the criminals have been armed.

Sport24 reports:

The WPCA [Western Province Cricket Association] said the incident started just after midnight when a woman approached security officials at Gate A and asked for directions to a church in the area.

When she returned five minutes later to ask a similar question, three men jumped the security fences and were soon joined by more than 15 other men. Some of them had guns and forced the security officials to provide them with the keys to the iconic President’s Suite.

Their raid took less than an hour and they packed the goods onto three vehicles and then left the scene.

The robbers made off with TV sets, liquor and other items, and smashed the glass doors of around 25 separate suits.

They also vandalised some of those suites. A senior official of WPCA offered this statement:

“The South African Police Services are busy with an extensive investigation into the event and we will also reassess our security measures, including the possibility of having more cameras installed…

“As an association we are disturbed by the robbery and will do our utmost with the help of the South African Police Services to get to the bottom of this and try and prevent a re-occurrence of this type of incident. We will seriously look within our budgetary constraints to improve our security situation at the stadium.

“Whilst it is truly appalling for this type of robbery to take place at our iconic cricket stadium where we have enjoyed some wonderful memories this past season, we are thankful that the security guard caught up in this crime was unharmed. He has been offered the necessary counselling in order to help him recover from this ordeal.”

Thankfully there are no international matches scheduled for the near future, so there is plenty of time to restore everything to its former glory.

[source:sport24]