The County Championship title hopes for Essex have been crushed with a menacing blow after the club was taken twelve points by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC). Feroz Khushi, an Essex player, used an oversized bat during the first match of the season in April which saw him investigated leading to these punitive measures.
CDC confirmed the dropping of points against Essex which sanctions were hanging around them for long in this cricket year. In retaliation however, they accepted this and made it public that their decision is forward.
According to their official announcement they were sorry but felt tied up on some principles guarding against unworthy practices hence looking forward to comply at all times. In addition, they noted the irregularities within resulting regulation processes as far as bat gauges are concerned claiming that other groups will write to CDC, Cricket Regulator and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) about that soon.
“Essex CCC is disheartened by the verdict; still, it accepts the charges raised by the CDC panel, although it finds the appeal outcome and its consequent penalties disappointing,” said the Club. “Moving forward, we intend to ensure strict adherence to all applicable regulations whilst maintaining game integrity.”
The controversy erupted during Essex’s second innings of their season opener against Nottinghamshire on 6 April. Khushi, who had made 21 runs then, was discovered using a bat that could not fit into umpires’ measurement gauge. In order to check the bat that got seized in that gauge, umpires Tom Lungley and Steve O’Shaughnessy stopped play. Nevertheless, Essex went onto win the match by 254 runs with a comfortable margin.
Nevertheless, the ruling by the CDC which saw 12 points deducted from the 20 already earned after this win essentially brought an end their hopes of overtaking Surrey with only two more rounds left including potentially critical last match against them at Chelmsford within just 56 points behind current leaders making it almost impossible for any comeback.
Essex had initially filed an appeal when the Cricket Regulator raised the charge. The 31-page ruling by CDC accepted that some of Khushi’s bat measuring gauges “did not strictly adhere to specifications.”
Nonetheless, Khushi was admonished for using it in a way that contravened the rules, even though he stated he had relied on his bat-maker to make sure it was consistent with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) regulations.
