Leicestershire win back eight points but relegation still looms

Leicestershire have won back eight points of their 27-point County Championship deduction, but their place in Division One is still undecided.

The amended punishment leaves a 19-point penalty in place while the club appeals. That appeal will decide whether they stay up or go down, according to BBC Sport.

The original 27-point penalty was announced on 16 September. It followed a charge over the pitch for Leicestershire’s win against Glamorgan in August, which was judged to have broken pitch regulations.

That total was made up of two parts. Leicestershire lost the 19 points they earned from that Glamorgan game, 16 for the win and three bonus points for runs and wickets. The Cricket Discipline Panel then added an immediate eight-point deduction, plus a further eight points suspended for a year and a £5,000 fine.

The immediate eight-point deduction has now been waived. The suspended penalty and the fine stay. The panel decided that losing the 19 points from the game in question was punishment enough on its own.

The change came after the Cricket Regulator asked the panel to check something. It wanted to know whether the automatic 19-point loss under playing conditions had been factored into the first decision. Under County Championship rules, England’s four-day domestic competition, a team found guilty over a poor or below-average pitch gets zero points from that match.

The table maths is tight. Without the 27-point deduction, Leicestershire would have finished two points above the relegation zone, the cut-off that sends teams down to Division Two. With the 19-point penalty applied, they sit 17 points behind Essex. They will be relegated if the appeal fails.

Leicestershire chief executive Emma White said the club’s stance on appealing has not changed. The fight is not over.

For supporters, this means waiting. The points have shifted. The jeopardy has not. Everything now rests on what the appeal panel decides.