No sanctions for Gloucs after Northants abandonment

Bristol's County Ground played host to the abandoned Division Two match between Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire

Gloucestershire will not face disciplinary action following the abandonment of their County Championship match against Northamptonshire last month.

Umpires Chris Watts and Sue Redfern stopped play on safety grounds in the final session of the opening day after visiting batsmen Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rob Keogh retired hurt after being struck on the hand by Gloucestershire paceman Ajeet Singh Dale.

Northants were 116-2 in reply to the home side's 125 when the contest was suspended and later abandoned after discussions with match referee Jason Swift and ECB pitch inspectors at Lord’s.

The Cricket Regulator announced on Wednesday it was "satisfied that Gloucestershire have demonstrated that they sought to prepare the best quality pitch that they could".

The hosts were skittled in just 36.1 overs on the hybrid pitch before Vasconcelos was taken to hospital with a suspected broken finger.

Northamptonshire took 11 points for the Division Two draw, including three bowling bonus points, and though Gloucestershire received none, the lack of sanctions means they will not lose points or face any potential financial penalty.

The investigation, carried out by the Cricket Regulator, saw match officials, captains, coaches, and ground staff interviewed, in addition to a review of the live stream video and an expert technical report.

The Cricket Regulator was introduced last year to deal with disciplinary matters and, among other things, anti-discrimination, anti-corruption, anti-doping, misconduct and safeguarding. It is independent of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

A Cricket Regulator statement said: “The cricket regulator was satisfied, as a result of those enquiries, that the bounce was significantly uneven and dangerous to the players.

“The cricket regulator therefore fully supports the decisions taken by the match officials to abandon the match in the circumstances."

The statement added they "expect Gloucestershire to take steps to prevent issues of this nature arising in the future" with the pitch advisor, who investigated the surface at Bristol, to offer support to the club going forward.