County Championship: Lancashire deducted six points for fixed penalties

Lancashire have no right to appeal against their points deduction

Lancashire have been deducted six County Championship points by the cricket discipline commission panel.

They had been given a maximum 12-point suspended punishment in November 2021 after receiving five fixed penalties for pitch and/or equipment damage from September 2020 and September 2021.

They then incurred fixed penalties for "minimum level one offences" by Dane Vilas and Luke Wells this year.

Those came in games with Warwickshire, in June, and Northants, in July.

The deduction leaves Lancashire third in Division One, 35 points behind leaders Hampshire.

"Following all our hard work throughout the winter and in the County Championship this season, to be deducted points for what are, in our opinion, minor indiscretions is gut-wrenching," director of cricket performance Mark Chilton told the club website.

"With our suspended sentence from previous indiscretions, we knew the position we were in at the start of the season, addressed this as a group and set our expectations of one another.

"In our opinion, both fixed penalties we received were unduly harsh punishments, which could have gone either way, and it is this inconsistency in the decision making that makes this difficult to take."

Lancashire opener Wells, 31, said it was "very frustrating" to have suffered the deduction, adding: "I'm gutted that I was implicated in this after hitting my bat on the ground after being bowled last year v Glamorgan at Cardiff and shouting in frustration whilst inside the changing room at Northants.

"Apologies to Lancs fans and of course the lads who've scrapped so hard for every single point we've got this year."