Leicestershire face an immediate return to division two of the county championship after they were penalised 27 points for producing a ‘poor’ pitch for the visit of Glamorgan last month – with an ‘unscheduled’ Bollywood filming event partly to blame.
The penalty consists of eight points for the substandard surface, plus the 19 they collected for winning the game.
It also includes a further eight-point deduction suspended by a year and a fine of £5,000, and leaves them facing a near-impossible task to avoid relegation, having been promoted in 2025 after 22 years away from the top flight.
The club’s head groundsman, Callum Lewin, told the Cricket Regulator – before the CDP tribunal – that there had been ‘circumstances leading up to the game that were just out of my control’.
‘We had an unscheduled Bollywood filming event four days before (the match vs Glamorgan), and I wasn’t allowed to work on the pitch. I wasn’t allowed to cover it or anything,’ he said.
The Bollywood event in question was the biopic of Indian cricket legend Sourav Ganguly, though Leicestershire insisted when approached by Daily Mail Sport that it was scheduled and that groundsman Lewin simply misspoke.
Indian cricket legend Saurav Ganguly filmed his biopic on Leicestershire’s cricket pitch – and it has contributed to their 27-point sanction for a ‘poor’ playing surface
Leicestershire were docked 27 points for the unsatisfactory surface for the Glamorgan match
Two crucial factors were the Bollywood event, which took place at Grace Road four days before the start of the match, and the hot weather, which meant the pitch started dry. Head coach Alfonso Thomas admitted it had been ‘a bit drier than what we wanted’, while his Glamorgan counterpart, Richard Dawson, said it had been ‘tough’ for batters. Leicestershire, who won by 42 runs, made 151 and 257, and Glamorgan 251 and 214.
Leicestershire said they ‘noted’ the decision by the independent Cricket Discipline Panel and were ‘considering all available options’. They have 10 days to appeal.
Leicestershire might have lost eight more points had the Cricket Regulator deemed the pitch deliberate.
Part of their judgment read: ‘The tribunal also takes into account Leicestershire’s full co-operation with the Cricket Regulator’s investigation, the fact that there was no intention to deliberately create a pitch with uneven bounce and the extreme weather conditions which do amount to some mitigation. This was not a case of cheating.’
But the amount of uneven bounce during the game left match referee Ian Ramage with little option but to ask the ECB’s pitch and grounds advisor Andy Mackay to carry out an inspection after the match.
Leicestershire’s only hope of survival is to win their ongoing game against Hampshire, then see off title hopefuls Warwickshire in the last round of matches, while hoping other results go their way.
