Worcestershire County Cricket Club have received a suspended two-point T20 points deduction for the 2025 season from an independent panel of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) after the club and batter Josh Cobb admitted a breach of ECB Directives 3.2 and 3.3 and agreed for the case to be determined pursuant to the Summary Procedure.
The charges related to Mr Cobb’s use of a bat which failed a bat-gauge test during Worcestershire’s Vitality T20 Blast game against Durham on 5 July 2024. Mr Cobb had not faced a delivery at the time the bat was tested.
The CDC Adjudicator originally imposed a two-point T20 points deduction for the 2025 season. Worcestershire appealed the CDC Adjudicator’s decision on sanction and the Cricket Regulator sought clarification on certain elements of the original decision of the CDC Adjudicator.
The CDC Adjudicator has now revised his decision so that the two-point deduction is suspended and will be imposed if Worcestershire commit a further breach of this nature.
The original judgment is available here and the revised judgment available here.
Interim Director of the Cricket Regulator Dave Lewis said: “I am pleased that we were able to work with Worcestershire CCC and the Cricket Discipline Commission and that the CDC adjudicator was able to reconsider their original decision in this case.
“We also note that this is the second oversized bat case this year, and the Cricket Regulator will be working with counties, players, and officials to inform them about the issue with a view to preventing a recurrence next season.”
The Cricket Regulator is the independent body which enforces the rules for domestic professional cricket as well as working to educate participants and prevent potential breaches. The Cricket Regulator investigates and prosecutes cases but does not decide on any penalties. The Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) is the independent adjudication body which hears cases, rules on responsibility for breaches of rules and issues penalties to teams and participants.