Sussex Cricket Club has incurred penalties from the ECB, resulting in the suspension of team captain Cheteshwar Pujara for one match. Inappropriate behavior by several players was observed during both the previous and current seasons.
12-Point Penalty and Pujara’s Suspension Shake Sussex County Championship Campaign
The ECB has imposed a 12-point penalty on Sussex County Cricket Club during the ongoing County Championship. As a consequence, team captain Cheteshwar Pujara has been suspended for a single match. This penalty has been levied due to violations of the ECB’s established code of conduct for business. Sussex received this fine after accumulating the stipulated four penalties in a season.
According to a statement issued by the ECB, “Sussex County Cricket Club incurred an additional two penalty points during the County Championship match against Leicestershire on September 13, 2023. Therefore, this penalty was imposed because the club exceeded the four-point limit, leading to the suspension of team captain Cheteshwar Pujara for one match.”
Cheteshwar Pujara’s suspension follows the prescribed rules, a decision that Sussex has accepted without contest. Past incidents of player suspensions due to on-field conduct include players like Tom Haines, Jack Carson, and Ari Karvelas. Consequently, Pujara was excluded from the team’s lineup for the match against Derbyshire.
Due to the accumulation of penalty points, Sussex County Cricket Club has dropped from the third position to the fifth position in the standings. Currently, the club has 124 points, and it will require time to regain its standing. In the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara, the team will miss his contributions in the upcoming match. If Sussex County Cricket Club were to suffer a defeat in this match, they would descend further in the points table.
