Essex fury at ECB ‘absolutely stupid’ after 12-point deduction for bat deemed too wide

Essex reacted furiously after being hit with a 12-point deduction after one of their players used a bat deemed too large.

The club’s slim hopes of winning the Premier League title were effectively dashed after the bat used by Feroze Khushi in April’s match against Nottinghamshire was found to be too wide. Law 5.7.2 of the Laws of the Game states that bats must not exceed 10.8cm in width.

Khushi was on 21 runs in her second innings when the bat, hit by Gray-Nicolls, was ruled to have breached regulations.

“I guess the ECB thought it was cheating and the appeals committee are trying to get a bit more muscular,” Essex chairman Keith Fletcher told The Times. “Feroze doesn’t think he did anything wrong and the whole team has been penalised, not just one player.

“As a batsman I know that a few millimetres one way or the other will have no effect on performance. Umpires test bats randomly and I think the ECB have been absolutely stupid.

“We recognise that we are not going to catch Surrey now and there is money at stake for players and prestige for a non-Test club like us, which is dependent on our ranking. We are still competing with the Test clubs who already have the money to attract the best players.”

Essex chairman Anu Mohindru KC said: “We appealed the original judgment and it was supported by the cricket regulator, but the original decision was upheld.

“Since then, no other bats have been tested. My problem is that the apparatus used for testing is not standard. I am not saying that we did not fail the final test and I have no criticism of the umpires and the match referee, but it is not a level playing field if we are all using different gauges. I would like to think that we are not being targeted in this matter.”

Durham were penalised 10 points in 2022 after Nic Maddinson’s bat failed to pass through the metal gauge carried by umpires. If a bat is deemed oversized, it is tested again as damp conditions can cause it to swell.

The points deduction was handed down by a panel of the Cricket Disciplinary Committee, an independent body of the England & Wales Cricket Board which adjudicates breaches of the rules of cricket. The ECB itself did not impose the sanction.

After points are deducted, Essex sit fourth in Division One, with no risk of relegation.