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THE Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade finals equation and more particularly the participation of City Colts could be thrown into chaos this week with last season’s grand finalists facing the possibility of a points deduction.
Colts were put under the microscope after Penrith lower-grader Callum Hotham filled in for them last Sunday – the second day of their match against Bathurst City at Loco Oval.
Hotham had been in action the day before with Penrith in fifth grade. He came into the side for Colts during their upset of the competition leaders, making 24 in their successful run-chase.
There has been no suggestion that there was a deliberate attempt from Colts to cheat or conceal Hotham’s presence in any way. Most sources indicate that they had asked Hotham to gain permission from Penrith in order to play.
But since the advent of the MyCricket.com registration system, the accepted rule has been that a player registered in one cricket association cannot play within another without written permission or a dual registration type arrangement.
The upshot of it all is that a BDCA management committee meeting will see Colts’ fate decided. They are staring at the distinct possibility of losing each of the 14.18 points they picked up from the Redbacks win.
“It is hard to say what they will do at the meeting,” BDCA president Campbell Graham said.
“In terms of points, I can’t see that there will be anything in dispute outside of that game itself.
“Colts I think believed they had done everything right in the spirit of the game, they had checked with Callum and were told that he had checked with Penrith. City Colts don’t intentionally go out and not do things by the book.
“They’ve got an exemplary record with the judiciary and are regarded as probably the most easy-going team in the competition, so there’s no suggestion that they’ve gone out of their way to cheat or anything.
“But if a player was allowed to play in Sydney and in Bathurst it would set a precedent for other clubs to have players come back, and if there is a by-law that somehow allows that, then we have to tighten it.”
Hotham attracted attention last season when he became the youngest player to hit a first grade century since the Bathurst-Orange split, a record lowered soon after by Jeremy Judge.
Still a developing player, the teenager wouldn’t necessarily give Colts an especially unfair advantage given some of the monster hitters in their top order.
However, if he was to be allowed to play for Colts when he didn’t have duties with Penrith, it would open the door for the likes of Sydney first graders Max Hope (Rugby Union) and Ben Trevor-Jones (Bathurst City) to play for their former clubs.
Theoretically even Trent Copeland would be legitimately able to play for Rugby.
Colts captain Jeff Clancy said that he is still not sure what penalty his team is looking at, but already he has prepared himself for the possibility that they will be docked points.
“There’s not a lot I can say at the moment, we haven’t been given an indication of exactly what we’re looking at, but I’d assume having some points taken would come into it,” he said. “We asked Callum if he could play, and he asked his club if they were okay with it, so we didn’t really think twice about it.”