Somerset deducted 24 points, with 12 suspended for two years, for poor pitch in 2019 title decider vs Essex
Tuesday 19 November 2019 12:09, UK
Somerset will start the 2020 County Championship season on -12 points after being handed a points deduction for producing a poor pitch against Essex.
Somerset were found guilty of breaching pitch regulations in the Championship-deciding match against Essex in September, in which the surface at Taunton was rated "poor" due to "excessive unevenness of bounce".
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) charged Somerset with a breach of the regulation that requires that: 'Each County shall actively seek to prepare the best quality cricket pitch that it can for the match that it is staging'.
Somerset had conceded the pitch was correctly rated, but contested the second part of the charge that said it could have been prepared better.
A three-man panel upheld the verdict in respect of the second element of the charge, and found Somerset guilty of a breach of ECB Pitch Regulations.
The county have been handed a 24-point deduction, 12 of which have been suspended for two years, ahead of the 2020 County Championship season.
Somerset have 14 days to appeal the decision.
A statement on the county's website read: "Somerset County Cricket Club await the full report from the Cricket Discipline Commission before considering our next course of action."
