Leicestershire County Cricket Club have been handed a 27-point deduction by the Cricket Discipline Panel in Division One of the County Championship. The independent tribunal penalised the club for breaching ECB pitch regulations during their win over Glamorgan at Uptonsteel Grace Road in August.
The deduction has dropped Leicestershire to the bottom of the table during their penultimate fixture against Hampshire. The club have lost the 19 points earned from the Glamorgan match and received an additional eight-point penalty, along with a £5,000 fine, leaving their survival hopes hanging by a thread.
Leicestershire head grounds manager Callum Lewin told the Cricket Regulator that several factors made the pitch difficult to prepare for the Glamorgan fixture.
An unscheduled Bollywood film shoot at Uptonsteel Grace Road four days before the match prevented the grounds team from covering the pitch for around eight hours.
“Circumstances leading up to the game that were just out of my control,” Lewin said during his interview with the Cricket Regulator.
Leicestershire had also tried to recreate the surface used in their win over Yorkshire in June. However, the pitch used against Glamorgan had already hosted two T20 matches in the previous 10 weeks and had been exposed to two months of unusually warm weather, leaving the soil drier and more prone to cracking.
Match Referee Records 43 Examples of Uneven Bounce
Match referee Ian Ramage rated the Grace Road pitch as “poor” after recording 43 examples of uneven bounce during the match. The Cricket Regulator identified moving cracks, localised collapses at the crack junctions, ball indentations and large clumps of grass as factors that affected the surface.
The pitch had around 3 mm of grass at both ends and 16 mm in the middle. Leicestershire used the shorter grass at the ends to assist the spinners while leaving a greener middle for the seamers. However, the drier soil made the surface different from the one used against Yorkshire.
Glamorgan head coach Richard Dawson described the surface as “dangerously up and down from the start” after his team’s defeat. Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas also acknowledged that the pitch was not in the condition they had expected.
“A bit drier than what we wanted,” Thomas said.
Leicestershire admitted that the pitch was “substandard” but argued that they had tried to prepare the best surface possible. The Cricket Regulator acknowledged that the club had not intended to create uneven bounce but ruled that the risks linked to the preparation should have been identified and managed.
Leicestershire Given 27-Point Deduction as Club Considers Appeal
The Cricket Discipline Panel upheld the charge against Leicestershire and imposed an eight-point sanction. The club also lost all 19 points earned from their victory over Glamorgan, taking the total deduction to 27 points.
The panel reduced the 16-point deduction for a “poor” pitch to eight points after considering several mitigating factors. Leicestershire admitted early that the pitch was substandard, cooperated fully with the investigation, and had no below-average, poor, or unfit pitch rating in the previous 24 months.
“The tribunal also takes into account Leicestershire's full co-operation with the Cricket Regulator's investigation, the fact that there was no intention to deliberately create a pitch with uneven bounce and the extreme weather conditions which do amount to some mitigation. This was not a case of cheating,” the judgment stated.
Leicestershire have also been fined £5,000, while a further eight-point deduction has been suspended for 12 months. The club has 10 working days to appeal the decision and said it is reviewing its position and considering all available options.
Also read: Leicestershire face disciplinary action over Grace Road pitch after Glamorgan clash
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