Fast bowler Hurdle slapped with year ban

HAMILTON, Bermuda,  CMC – Fast bowler Kevin Hurdle has been banned for 12 months for his involvement in a brawl that forced a First Division match at St John’s Field to be abandoned.

Kevin Hurdle

A spokesman for club side Flatts confirmed that 35-year-old Hurdle, who played for Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, was found guilty by a Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) disciplinary committee of committing level two and four offences.

Team-mate Rahji Edness received a two-game ban for his part in the incident that led to the match between his club and hosts Western Stars being abandoned.

Flatts are appealing Hurdle’s ban but not that of Edness.

Hurdle, who has taken 23 wickets form 19 One-Day Internationals but has not played in five years, turned out for Flatts against Somerset Bridge on Sunday under appeal while Edness began serving his ban.

There were no official umpires at the controversial May 6 match that was halted in the 23rd over of the hosts’ innings. Western Stars were 122 without loss in reply to the visitors’ 312.

It is understood that the BCB’s disciplinary committee based their decision on unofficial reports of the incident that marred the opening weekend of the 2012 cricket season.

During the game, Western Stars batsman Tre Manders stood his ground after he was adjudged to have been run out by stand-in umpire Wayne Campbell, who is the president of Western Stars Sports Club.

Heated words were exchanged and a brawl developed.

Manders and his father Andre, Western Stars’ player-coach, were  also charged with committing level two offences but have yet to learn their fate.