Gloucestershire have avoided being penalised by the ECB's Cricket Regulator, after their County Championship match against Northants last month was abandoned due to a dangerous pitch.
The ECB referred the incident to the Cricket Regulator after the match was abandoned on day one. Gloucestershire were bowled out for 125 in just 36.1 overs on a hybrid pitch in Bristol, before Northants opener Ricardo Vasconcelos had to retire hurt after he was hit on the hand by a ball which leapt off the surface. When Rob Keogh was also hit, the umpires convened in the middle and decided the surface was too dangerous for play to continue on. It was later confirmed that the match had been abandoned.
With the investigation into the matter now concluded, the Cricket Regulator has announced that it was "satisfied... that the bounce was significantly uneven and dangerous to the players," and that it "fully supports the decisions taken by the match officials to abandon the match in the circumstances with which they were presented".
Given that the pitch for the match has therefore been proven to have been too dangerous for play to take place, Gloucestershire could have been facing a significant penalty. ECB regulations for the County Championship state: "In the event of a match being abandoned due to a pitch that has been rated unfit in accordance with the pitch regulations, the visiting team shall be awarded eight points in respect of the draw, plus first innings points already achieved. The home team shall be awarded zero points and any first innings points already achieved shall be rescinded... Note that this does not preclude further action being taken against the home team through the disciplinary process."
However, in this case the Cricket Regulator has announced that no points penalty has been imposed on Gloucestershire. This is because, according to a statement from the Cricket Regulator, "Gloucestershire CCC have demonstrated that they sought, acting reasonably, to prepare the best quality pitch that they could for the match they were staging".
In a statement in response to the Cricket Regulator's decision, Gloucestershire accepted the investigation's findings and added: "The Club has been significantly punished by the inability to compete for points in the match, suffering reputational damage and loss of matchday earnings in the process. Prior to the match we still retained hopes of challenging for promotion to Division One."
The statement from the club also expressed their disappointment that the match was called off at the time, and that they will engage with the ECB in dialogue on future pitch preparation.
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