Leicestershire face relegation from Division One after 27-point deduction

Leicestershire are facing relegation from Division One of the County Championship after being deducted 27 points for breaching pitch regulations in their victory over Glamorgan in August, a sanction imposed midway through their penultimate match of the season.

The Cricket Discipline Panel’s ruling stripped the Foxes of the 19 points earned in the Glamorgan win, added an eight-point penalty and imposed a £5,000 fine, with a further eight-point deduction suspended for one year; the deduction has dropped Leicestershire to the bottom of the table and the club can appeal within 10 working days. In a statement the club said it "notes the Cricket Discipline Panel's decision" and was "reviewing its position and considering all available options".

Leicestershire’s relegation will be confirmed if they fail to beat Hampshire in their ongoing match at Uptonsteel Grace Road; Hampshire closed day two on 255-3 in their second innings, a lead of 225. The points penalty was announced midway through Leicestershire’s penultimate fixture of the season.

The Foxes had been promoted last season as Division Two title winners and were in their first season back in Division One after a 22-year exile. Before the Glamorgan victory they had won only one match since returning to the top flight; the 42-run win over Glamorgan three weeks earlier provided a timely boost to their survival bid.

Match officials, led by referee Ian Ramage, requested an inspection by the ECB’s pitch and grounds advisor Andy Mackay after the Glamorgan game concluded. Glamorgan head coach Richard Dawson described the conditions as "tough" for batters, while Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas said the surface had been prepared in the same way as the pitch used against Yorkshire — a game the Foxes won by an innings and 39 runs in June — and conceded it was "a bit drier than what we wanted" for the Glamorgan match.

Adam Whitty of BBC Radio Leicester wrote: "I doubt I am being controversial by saying that the pitch against Glamorgan did not play as expected. There was uneven bounce from early in the match and players were regularly getting hit on the hands. They went for a "mullet" - shorter grass at the ends of the pitch and longer in the middle - which they have tried this week against Hampshire, to little effect, and the match before the game in question, against Yorkshire, and there was no extreme movement or bounce. The same could not be said for this wicket. Leicestershire felt that we had a good game, which went for four days and included two scores of 90 or more. With low scores around the country that week, they did not think this pitch warranted further punishment."

Whitty added: "The Foxes are gutted about this. They had worked so hard to work themselves back into a survival battle, only for this to ruin their chances of staying up after a 23-year wait. They need to beat Hampshire now, then title-chasing Warwickshire, and hope results elsewhere go their way."