ESSEX'S slim hopes of winning the Vitality County Championship appear to be over following a 12-point deduction.
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.
Does anyone agree that docking Essex 12 points for one player having a bat marginally wider than the rules permit is a harsh punishment?
Would it not have been fairer to simply deduct all the runs he scored in the game and adjust the result accordingly, plus a suspension for the player?
As Essex had won by 254 runs deducting the 50 Kushi scored would not have altered the result but that would seem reasonable as the wider bat did not influence the result of a game that wasn't even close.
