The Bradman Foundation is set to dramatically strip back its role in Highlands senior cricket following a spat with the Moss Vale team over the use of Bradman Oval.

Director Richard Mulvaney has hit back at allegations that the foundation was giving precedence to its Bradman XI side when ground curator Josh Woodcock stopped Saturday’s first grade match between Moss Vale and Bowral.

“In future the Bradman Foundation will do the absolute bare minimum for the Highlands Cricket association,” Mulvaney said.

“The idea that we wouldn’t let the teams play to preserve the pitch for ourselves is simply mischievous.

“The players seem to take us very much for granted.

“They think they don’t have to lift a finger and they can just come along and the facility is ready and waiting for them.”Mulvaney added that while he sympathised with the Moss Vale team, the ultimate responsibility lay with the Bowral Cricket Club.

“I can well understand the Moss Vale team feeling frustrated and disillusioned,” he said.

“They were clearly ahead and probably on their way to an outright victory but we shouldn’t be coming in for criticism.

“It’s the Bowral club’s responsibility to put the covers on the pitch in case of rain in the constitution.”And Mulvaney supported Woodcock’s assertion that the pitch was too wet to play on.“It was a decision of the groundsman and there is always going to be differences of opinion,” he said.

“If they had got on the pitch they would have done irreparable damage to it.

“And would they cared, I say no.”

Mulvaney also slammed the Moss Vale team’s decision to hold a practice session on the pitch despite being told it was too wet.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it before and I find it grossly immature,” he said.

“It reflects badly on the club and it’s absolute vandalism and total disregard for authority. They have a hide desecrating Bradman Oval when they don’t even have a ground of their own.”As a result of the weekend’s incident, Mulvaney has resigned from his position on the HDCA judiciary.And despite being essentially a council ground, Mulvaney added that the Bradman Foundation invested heavily in its upkeep.