On Thursday (September 26), the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) handed Worcestershire a suspended two-point penalty for a too-wide bat, rather than implementing it immediately as was done with Essex earlier this year. Here's why.
Worcestershire handed two-point penalty
In July this year, during Worcestershire's T20 Blast fixture against Durham at Chester-le-Street, umpire Steve O'Shaughnessy conducted an at random on-field "bat gauge" test to ensure the equipment being used was of the appropriate size.
Batter Josh Cobb's bat was found to not fit through the umpire's gauge, failing the test. This was before he had faced a delivery. Further tests carried out at the end of the day, after the bat was confiscated, saw it fail again.
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Cobb accepted the transgression he had committed, but it was acknowledged by the CDC that he had not intended to cheat or deceive. He was found to be in violation of the Professional Conduct Regulations (PCRs), and as a result Worcestershire were handed a two-point penalty in the T20 Blast.
By the time the judgement arrived, the club had played all of their fixtures in the current season. Therefore, with the deduction being of no consequence to this season's campaign, two points were to be deducted from Worcestershire's tally in the 2025 season.
A similar case came earlier this summer when Essex were penalised 12 points in the County Championship after Feroze Khushi's bat failed multiple gauge tests. As the season was still on when the judgment arrived, it was effective immediately, and virtually put them out of the race for the title. A difference between the two cases is that by the point of Khushi's test, he had used the bat in question in both innings. Cobb, on the other hand, was yet to face a delivery when his on-field test was conducted.
