Durham to appeal two-point Royal London Cup penalty

The points deduction, imposed by the Cricket Discipline Commission, followed a hearing, with Durham having received seven fixed penalty breaches between June 2021 and June 2022

Durham are to appeal a two-point penalty imposed on the county's Royal London Cup tally by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC).

The points deduction, announced on Saturday morning, followed a hearing, with Durham having received seven fixed penalty breaches between June 2021 and June 2022.

At the start of last month, the county was handed a suspended points penalty after Durham reached the threshold of five breaches within a 12-month period.

That sanction threatened a deduction of "two points in the Royal London Cup; and/or two points in the Vitality T20 Blast; and/or 16 points in the LV= Insurance County Championship" if the club were to receive two further penalties within the next year.

The two most recent penalties were incurred after the initial charges but prior to July 1, with the CDC opting to apply the points deduction on the Royal London Cup.

Durham responded with a statement, stating their disappointment "with the outcome of the process" and declaring their intention of "appealing the decision immediately".

^{Durham have won just once in this year's Royal London Cup (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

They are not the first county to fall foul of the CDC this summer after totting up penalty breaches. Leicestershire had their chances of qualifying for the T20 Blast knockout stages curtailed ahead of their final match after a two-point deduction was imposed.

Between August 2, 2020, and July 1, 2021, Leicestershire had received six fixed penalties for breaches of ECB Directive 3.6, triggered by an incident of dissent during a Blast game against Notts Outlaws, which led to a suspended penalty dependent on future good behaviour.

But the CDC panel were forced to reconsider the position after Ben Mike damaged the pitch on three occasions during a home Blast game, as a two-game ban and one-point deduction was imposed.

A further points penalty – 12 in the County Championship, two in the One-Day Cup or Blast – was held over the club for the next 12 months and would be activated upon a further breach. That occurred in a win over Northants, with the addition of two fixed penalties, leading to the judgement.

In Durham's case, the two-point sanction all but ends any hope that last year's runners-up had of qualifying for the quarter-finals, pushing them back to zero points, having won just once in four games.

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