Leicestershire County Cricket Club have been\u00a0deducted 27 points and fined \u00a35,000 for breaching pitch regulations in their victory over Glamorgan in August, with their groundsman blaming a Bollywood film shoot.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Wednesday, Leicestershire said: “The club notes the Cricket Discipline Panel’s decision, which imposes an eight-point deduction, an additional eight-point deduction suspended until the end of the 2027 season, and a financial penalty of \u00a35,000.<\/p>\n
“Under ECB Rothesay County Championship Playing Condition 16.2.6, the 19 points earned in the match concerned will also be deducted from Leicestershire CCC’s 2026 Rothesay County Championship total.<\/p>\n
“Accordingly, the club will lose 27 points overall.<\/p>\n
“Having received the panel’s decision, the club is reviewing its position and considering all available options. No further statement will be issued at this time.”<\/p>\n
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This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> The independent Cricket Discipline Panel (CDP) upheld the Cricket Regulator’s charge against Leicestershire for breaching the ECB Pitch Regulations, with the pitch at Uptonsteel Grace Road rated as ‘poor’ during the County Championship match against Glamorgan, between August 20-23.<\/p>\n Leicestershire won the low-scoring match by 42 runs and the pitch was inspected immediately after.<\/p>\n Leicestershire’s groundsman Callum Lewin had argued filming of an unscheduled Bollywood film – believed to be for a biopic of former India captain Sourav Ganguly – had taken place at the ground four days before the Glamorgan fixture, preventing the pitch from being covered for eight hours in bright sunshine.<\/p>\n This was dismissed by the panel as a mitigating factor as it was only one day.<\/p>\n In a full written judgment, match referee Ian Ramage logged 43 examples of uneven bounce in the match. The pitch had an unusual look, with a green middle (16mm of grass) to help seamers and bare ends (just 3mm) to help spinners. Other pitches at Grace Road this year have had a similar look and played differently.<\/p>\n The Regulator acknowledged Leicestershire would not have deliberately created a pitch to bounce so unevenly but stated “each of these factors presented foreseeable risks that should have informed part of the planning and preparation process.”<\/p>\n In conclusion, the tribunal found that, while Leicestershire did not intend for the pitch to play unevenly, their approach to preparing it was unreasonable. “Accordingly, and for these reasons, LCCC have failed to discharge the burden upon them under Regulation 7.6 that it “sought, acting reasonably, to prepare the best quality pitch that it could for the match that was being staged”.<\/p>\n If the Foxes fail to beat Hampshire in their ongoing home game, their return to Division Two will be confirmed.<\/p>\n But they face a tough task to do so after Hampshire closed day two on 255-3 in their second innings – a lead of 225.<\/p>\n Watch England’s second T20 vs Sri Lanka live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 6pm on Thursday (6.30pm first ball). Latest Sky Sports deals<\/a> or stream no contract with NOW<\/a>.<\/p>\n England vs Sri Lanka results and fixtures<\/p>\n All times UK and Ireland; all games live on Sky Sports<\/p>\n
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