PHC appeal for points after loss

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10: Relegation-threatened PHC have appealed for the points from Sunday’s Premier clash with Devonshire Recreation Club.

PHC lost the low-scoring match at their home venue by 37-runs but have appealed on the grounds that Devonshire player Dean Stephens – who had a previous playing stint at the Warwick club – was ineligible to play.

Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) imposed an eight-game ban on Stephens last June that PHC claim the player has yet to complete and, as such, should not have been allowed to play in Sunday’s league clash.

A PHC source told the Bermuda Sun that the club has already submitted a written appeal to local cricket’s governing body.

The source said: “We have submitted a request asking for the points because they had a player that should not have been playing.

“The player was banned for eight- games and from what I’ve been told he didn’t appeal and when he played us he hadn’t completed the ban.

“What we did was wrote to the BCB and we are now awaiting an answer. It’s out of our hands now and the rest is up to them to decide whether he was eligible or not to play.”

When contacted on the matter a Devonshire source confirmed that the club is aware of PHC’s appeal, but insisted the newly crowned Central Counties champs did not breach the BCB’s sanctions imposed on their player.

The Devonshire source claim that a thorough check had been done prior to the match to determine whether Stephens was in fact eligible to play and only then was he allowed to play.

The Devonshire source further claimed that his club even went as far as to consult with the BCB over the matter prior to Sunday’s clash with PHC, who played under protest of Stephen’s involvement.

It is understood that Devonshire may have taken into consideration matches they were due to play against Young Men’s Social Club to count towards Stephen’s suspension.

Devonshire and Social Club had been scheduled to face off July 10 and 31.

But the BCB announced June 24 that Social Club had withdrawn from the league, citing a player shortage as the reason for doing so.

Coincidentally, local cricket’s governing body announced Stephen’s lengthy ban the same day.

Neil Speight, executive director for the BCB, confirmed they had received an appeal from PHC with regard to DRC using Stephens.

He said the board probably would have looked into the incident even without an appeal because it involved a player who may not have been eligible to play.

Speight said the board will examine the appeal “as fast as we can” but the committee may not be able to get together until next week.