Essex's faint hopes of victory in this year's County Championship are effectively over after the club was docked 12 points by the Cricket Discipline Commission, after one of their players, Feroz Khushi, was found to have used an over-sized bat during their opening match of the season in April.
The sanction, which had been anticipated at Chelmsford for much of the season, has been accepted by the club in an official statement. However, there is also fury behind the scenes, with Keith Fletcher, the former Essex and England captain who is now the club president, telling the The Times that the decision was "absolutely stupid".
The issue arose during Essex's second innings of their opening Championship fixture, against Nottinghamshire on April 6 . Khushi, who had made 21 at the time, when the onfield umpires, Tom Lungley and Steve O'Shaughnessy, found that his bat became stuck in their measurement gauge.
Essex went on to win the match by 254 runs, but have now lost 12 of the 20 points that they took from that fixture, meaning that they trail Surrey by 56 points with two rounds remaining, including what could have been a critical final-round clash between the two clubs at Chelmsford.
Essex lodged an appeal when the original charge was raised by the Cricket Regulator, and in a 31-page judgement issued by the CDC, it was acknowledged that some of the gauges used to assess Khushi's bat "did not comply precisely with the specifications".
In his evidence to the Regulator, Khushi said that he had trusted his bat manufacturer to provide equipment that confirmed to MCC's regulations, with Law 5.7.2 stipulating that a bat's width should be 10.8cm. He added that he never intended to use a non-conforming bat, but received a reprimand for his part in the issue.
"Essex CCC regrets the outcome and, although disappointed with the appeal decision and subsequent sanctions, accepts the charges of the CDC panel," a club statement said.
"The club remains fully committed to upholding the integrity of the game and ensuring strict compliance with all relevant regulations moving forward.
"In light of the concerns raised during the appeal, the club will be writing to the CDC, Cricket Regulator and the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to formally highlight the matters which arose during the process, such as those raised by the club in relation to the bat gauges. "Essex CCC hopes that these concerns will prompt action to address inconsistencies and enhance the fairness and transparency of future regulatory processes."
Speaking to The Times , Fletcher accused the appeal panel of "trying to flex its muscles", adding that the whole side had been penalised by the process.
"We realise we are not going to catch Surrey now and there is money at stake for the players and prestige for a non-Test-match club such as ourselves involved in where we finish," he added. "We are always up against it with the Test-match clubs, which already have the money to attract the best players."
Anu Mohindru KC, the Essex chairman, added: "We appealed the initial judgment and it was supported by the cricket regulator, but the initial decision was upheld.
"Since then, no other bat has been tested. My issue is with the apparatus for testing not being standard. I'm not suggesting we did not fail the final test and I don't have any criticism of the umpires and match referee but it is not a level playing field if we are all using different gauges. I would like to think we are not being singled out in this matter."
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