The Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) has imposed a series of sanctions against Leicestershire County Cricket Club following a disciplinary hearing held in Leicester yesterday.
The club was fined £5,000 and has received a 16 point penalty in the Specsavers County Championship, with a further eight point penalty suspended for one year.
In addition, the club captain Mark Cosgrove has been suspended for one game.
Cosgrove’s one-match suspension will apply to the Specsavers County Championship match between Leicestershire and Glamorgan on 21st – 24th April 2017, pending any appeal which may be lodged.
The CDC also announced that pace bowler Charlie Shreck has been penalised under the ECB’s Fixed Penalty Directives.
Shreck was reported by umpires Steve O’Shaughnessy and James Middlebrook during Leicestershire's match against Loughborough MCCU on 28th – 30th March 2017. The Cricket Liaison Officer, Dean Cosker, determined that Shreck had committed a Level 1 breach (using language that is obscene, offensive or insulting and/or making an obscene gesture).
Shreck previously held three penalty points following a fixed penalty breach in May/June 2016. The penalty for a subsequent breach at Level 1 within 24 months is three penalty points. Shreck therefore now holds a total of six penalty points.
As a consequence of the Fixed Penalty breach, Leicestershire CCC were charged with a breach of ECB Directive 3.5.19, as they have incurred a total of five fixed penalty breaches within a period of 12 months, and a charge against their captain, Mark Cosgrove under ECB Directive 3, as he was captain on each of these five occasions.
Today’s decisions were taken after a Disciplinary Panel chaired by Tim O’Gorman, alongside Mike Smith and Anita George MBE JP, met at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road to consider the charges.
Their decision will result in an immediate penalty of 16 points in the Specsavers County Championship, with a further suspended penalty of eight points, to be imposed if cricketers playing for Leicestershire incur a further two Fixed Penalty breaches in any competition within a period of 12 months from the date of the hearing.
In reaching this decision, the Panel reminded Leicestershire that repeated breaches of discipline are a matter of serious concern. This is the second occasion on which the club has committed a similar offence, with all ten Fixed Penalty breaches occurring within three years.
The Panel noted that the club has taken action against the latest player to incur a fixed penalty breach. However, they noted that actions taken by the club since the previous Disciplinary Panel Hearing have not been effective. In addition, the Panel acknowledged that the club and the captain pleaded guilty immediately to these charges.