Somerset will not appeal against the Cricket Discipline Commission’s decision to dock them points for the “poor” pitch they produced for their County Championship title decider against Essex in September.

Last month, the ECB’s CDC found the county guilty for producing a pitch with “excessive unevenness of bounce” and handed them a 24 points deduction, with 12 of those suspended for two years. The match was drawn, leading to Essex winning the County Championship for the second time in three years.

At their hearing, Somerset accepted the charge of producing a pitch rated as “poor”, but pleaded not guilty to the charge that it “was not the best quality cricket pitch that Somerset CCC was able to prepare for the match”. The county have now reached the decision to not appeal and “move forward”.

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In a statement, the county said: “This conclusion has been reached because it is clear that, in order to overturn the decision, the club would have to demonstrate conclusively to the Panel who originally implemented the sanctions that they had come to the wrong decision.

“Such a heavy burden of proof is extremely difficult for any appellant to discharge.

“The club are very disappointed with the Panel’s decision but has concluded that it is in the best interest of all parties to move forward.

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“We can now focus on preparing the team and the venue for the demands of the season ahead, with a specific focus on performing successfully, with a highly talented and competitive group of players and a clear focus on developing broader strategies to support this objective through our teams off the field.

“The club notes the strong message the Panel ruling sends to all first-class counties.

“There will be no further comment on this matter.”