Leicestershire has 10 days to appeal the Cricket Discipline Panel’s verdict, which has pushed them to the brink of relegation from Division One.
Allowing “unscheduled filming” of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s biopic was cited by Leicestershire as a reason for the poor pitch quality at its ground, but the explanation was dismissed by a disciplinary panel, which handed the county club a 27-point penalty for breaching pitch regulations. The panel, which upheld the Cricket Regulator’s charge of preparing a “poor pitch”, deducted 19 points that the Foxes earned from their 42-run win over Glamorgan at Grace Road (August 20-23) and imposed an additional eight-point penalty.
Furthermore, the panel also levied a 5,000-pound fine on the club. We had two T20s on it 10 weeks ago. There were a lot of circumstances leading up to the game that were just out of my control, such as the weather being 35 degrees.
Because the shoot was held for only one day at Grace Road, the filming of the Bollywood movie, which took place four days before the match, however, was dismissed as a mitigating factor by the disciplinary panel.
Callum Lewin, the head groundsman at Grace Road, told the Cricket Regulator that the pitch prepared for the match against Glamorgan was affected by a series of circumstances that were beyond his control. I wasn’t allowed to cover it or anything,” Lewin told the Cricket Regulator. “Having received the Panel’s decision, the Club is reviewing its position and considering all available options,” the club said in a statement.
“It’s a used pitch this time around. “We also had an unscheduled Bollywood filming event four days before (the match against Glamorgan), and I wasn’t allowed to work on the pitch.
