County Championship: Essex deducted 12 points for oversized bat to crush title hopes

Essex's slim hopes of winning the Vitality County Championship appear to be over following a 12-point deduction for one of their players using an oversized bat.

Opener Feroze Khushi failed an arbitrary bat gauge test in the second innings of the Division One clash against Nottinghamshire in April, where Essex took 20 points following a 254-run victory.

However, a dozen of those have now been chalked off after the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) deemed Khushi, who made scores of 18 and 32, had used a bat wider than the 10.8cm permitted at Trent Bridge.

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The decision of the CDC, which arbitrates on regulation breaches and is independent of the England and Wales Cricket Board, leaves Essex 56 points behind runaway leaders Surrey with just two games left after the ongoing round of fixtures.

Essex president Keith Fletcher told The Times on Tuesday: "Feroze does not believe he did anything wrong and the whole side has been penalised, not just the one player.

"As a batsman, I know that a few millimetres either way is not going to have any effect on performance. Umpires test bats at random and I think the ECB have been absolutely stupid."

Essex appealed the initial judgement amid "concerns about inconsistencies with the compliance of bat gauges" but that was dismissed by a separate CDC panel.

"Essex CCC regrets the outcome and, although disappointed with the appeal decision and subsequent sanctions, accepts the charges of the CDC panel," a statement from the club read.

"In light of the concerns raised during the appeal, the club will be writing to the CDC, Cricket Regulator and the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to formally highlight the matters which arose during the process, such as those raised by the club in relation to the bat gauges.

"Essex CCC hopes that these concerns will prompt action to address inconsistencies and enhance the fairness and transparency of future regulatory processes."

Durham lost 10 points in 2022 following a similar infraction by Nic Maddinson, while Derbyshire were docked two points in the One-Day Cup in the same season when Mattie McKiernan's bat was deemed to be outside the permitted dimensions.

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