Essex Archives

County club calls ECB ‘stupid’ over ‘fat bat’ points deduction

Essex County Cricket Club blasted the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for deducting 12 County Championship points as one of their players used a bat ruled too wide.

Essex’s hopes of winning the County Championship have all but perished when one of their batters, Feroze Khushi, used a bat, whose dimension went against the MCC’s regulations, with Law 5.7.2 imposing that a bat’s width should be 10.8cm.

The issue arose in the second innings of Essex’s opening County Championship fixture against Nottinghamshire when on-field umpires Tom Lungley and Steve O’Shaughnessy, during a routine inspection, found out that Khushi’s bat got stuck in the measurement gauge.

Essex went on to win their campaign opener convincingly by 254 runs but has now been docked 12 points from the 20 that they secured from the victory.

The sanction means that Essex now trail defending champions and leaders Surrey by 56 points with just two rounds remaining.

The sanction was imposed by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC), which runs as a separate entity, independent of the ECB.

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But that did not prohibit former England captain and Essex Keith Fletcher from branding the ECB as “absolutely stupid”.

“Feroze does not believe he did anything wrong and the whole side has been penalised, not just the one player,” Fletcher told The Times.

“As a batsman I know that a few millimetres either way is not going to have any effect on performance. Umpires test bats at random and I think the ECB have been absolutely stupid.”

Notably, Essex lodged a formal appeal when the charge was raised by the CDC and in a 31-page judgment, the body acknowledged that some of the gauges used to measure Khushi’s bat “did not comply precisely with the specifications”.

Meanwhile, Feroze Khushi, in response to the sanction, said that he had trusted his bat manufacturing company to follow MCC’s regulations, adding he did not intend to use a “non-conforming bat” but was still reprimanded for his part in the negligence.

“Essex CCC regrets the outcome and, although disappointed with the appeal decision and subsequent sanctions, accepts the charges of the CDC panel,” a club statement said.

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Alastair Cook retires from professional cricket

Former England captain and legendary batter Alastair Cook retired from all forms of cricket after the conclusion of the 2023 County Championship.

Alastair Cook retired from international cricket in 2018, however, he continued to play county cricket for Essex, from where he started his first-class career back in 2003.

The 38-year-old southpaw has accumulated 26643 runs in first-class cricket so far in 352 matches, with the help of 74 hundreds and 125 half-centuries.

He scored 836 runs in the ongoing County Championship from 26 innings at an average of 36.72 with one century and three half-centuries.

👑 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗿𝗮.

Alastair Cook has today retired from all forms of professional cricket.#ThankYouChef pic.twitter.com/eE4MdZIAae

— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) October 13, 2023

“It is not easy to say goodbye. For more than two decades, cricket has been so much more than my job,” said Alastair Cook in a statement released by his boyhood club Essex.

“It has allowed me to experience places I never dreamed I would go, be part of teams that have achieved things I would never have thought possible and, most importantly, created deep friendships that will last a lifetime.

“From the eight-year-old boy who first played for Wickham Bishops Under-11s to now, I end with a strange feeling of sadness mixed with pride. Although above all, I am incredibly happy. It is the right time for this part of my life to come to an end.”

Furthermore, Alastair Cook expressed his gratitude to Essex Cricket, a county side, where he started and concluded his professional first-class career.

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Essex, the county I joined when I was aged 12. When I ended my international career, I had no idea that I would have five more bonus years of playing for Essex.

“I cannot put into words how much fun we have had during that time.

“I won’t miss strapping on my pads and facing the new ball, but I will miss being in the Eagles changing room.

“Playing a full part in the season when Essex won the County Championship in 2019 is one of my favourite achievements in the game. I look forward to watching Essex continue to punch above their weight, hopefully winning many more trophies in the coming years.

The former England captain plans to spend more time with his family at the family farm and put more time into his new career in the media with BBC and TNT Sport.

Alastair Cook has enjoyed a highly decorated international career. He is England’s highest run scorer in Test cricket with 12472 runs at 45.35 with the help of 33 centuries and 57 half-centuries.

He is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket and the highest among openers. His tally of 33 Test centuries is the seventh-highest in the format. Only Sunil Gavaskar has scored more hundreds as a Test opener (33) than Cook (31).

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Alastair Cook set to retire from all forms of cricket after 2023 county season

Former England captain and legendary batter Alastair Cook is all set to retire from all forms of cricket at the conclusion of the 2023 County season, Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

Alastair Cook retired from international cricket in 2018, however, he continued to play county cricket for Essex, from where he started his first-class career back in 2003.

The 38-year-old southpaw has accumulated 26615 runs in first-class cricket so far in 350 matches, with the help of 74 hundred and 125 half-centuries.

He has scored 808 runs in the ongoing County season from 23 innings at an average of 36.72 with one century and three half-centuries.

“The former England captain will almost certainly retire next week at the end of a county season he still hopes will bring another Championship title for Essex,” the Daily Mail report states.

“The official news may come as early as Friday when Essex hope to complete their home season by defeating Hampshire to stay in the hunt for the title behind Surrey.”

The former England captain plans to spend more time with his family at the family farm and put more time into his new career in the media with BBC and TNT Sport.

Alastair Cook has enjoyed a highly decorated international career. He is England’s highest run scorer in Test cricket with 12472 runs at 45.35 with the help of 33 centuries and 57 half-centuries.

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