Peter Naghten, a retired black cab driver, said: “I’ve never had a ball in my property but I don’t really agree with banning sixes – it’s one of the most interesting things about the sport.

“I can understand why the ground is not really appropriate because it’s so small but how do you stop a batsman hitting a six? Surely it is in their blood and when the ball presents itself you’d just give it an almighty hit.”

Dynamic bats

Mr Broxup said the ground had been in nearly constant use since the club formed in 1790 but had recently been forced to make the amendment due to the changing nature of the sport.

“In the olden days, cricket was a more sedate affair; you’d have Geoffrey Boycott hitting one four in a day’s innings.

“But today bats are far more dynamic and players have a different expectation of the game than they used it.

“With the advent of 20/20 and limited over cricket, the sport has become far more explosive and players can just slog away. It makes the chance of damage to cars and vehicles almost inevitable.”

The club still uses the ground to play Sunday league, juniors and ladies cricket but senior matches are hosted at a second ground.

Mr Broxup said: “It was a difficult decision but in the olden days if we hit a tree or it went into the road it was a four and if it went over it was a six. That’s just too dangerous today.

“In the past, we have paid for the repairs to cars and homes but we wanted to put in place a new set of rules that would prevent that happening to begin with.”