HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC – Teenager Deunte Darrell has been hit with a year’s ban for a string of offences during an abandoned Premier Division match between his club Willow Cuts and Devonshire at the weekend, as administrators here vowed to clamp down on indiscipline.
All-rounder Darrell was handed the suspension for breaching probation for a previous offence, threatening to assault an umpire, abusing cricket ground equipment (knocking down stumps) and showing serious dissent towards an umpire’s decision during and after last Sunday’s ill-tempered match at Devonshire Recreation Club.
The match was halted by Jamaica-born umpire Lester Harnett after his colleague Bobby Smith had walked off.
Darrell pleaded guilty to the charge of threat of an insult on umpire Smith but denied the other charges he faced during a Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) disciplinary hearing on Thursday night.
His club said later they might appeal on his behalf.
Another Cuts player, skipper Chris Douglas, who has been in trouble with the Board before, escaped with a severe reprimand.
Douglas was seen by several witnesses to kick over the stumps at the end of the match, but because it was not included in Harnett’s report, the Board was unable to take any real action and only punished him for “failing to control his players”.
Cuts, who were 64 for four in reply to Devonshire’s 139 all out when the game was called off, forfeited the points.
Three other cricketers were handed suspensions from other matches and BCB vice-president Allen Richardson warned future misbehaviour would be met with “the severest of penalties”.
“We are drawing a line in the sand. Particularly any hint of a threat to umpires is going to be dealt with severely if proven correct,” he said after the meeting.
“We have a duty not only to uphold the standards of cricket, and what it stands for, but also a duty to the umpires. And that (behaviour) will not be tolerated.
“From now on the message is don’t test us, don’t push us.”
Detroy Smith was hardest hit, getting a three-year ban for his part in gang-related violence that occurred during two Premier Division matches between St George’s and PHC this season.
PHC batsman Khiry Furbert, the other main protagonist, was slapped with a two-year ban.
Smith and Furbert, who both failed to turn up for the disciplinary hearing, were both charged with level four offences. Smith was given a longer ban was because of his previous run-ins with the Board.
Macai Simmons, Smith’s St George’s team-mate, was the third player caught up in the two nasty altercations at Wellington Oval in July and at PHC Field last month.
Simmons was charged with a level three offence and given a nine-month ban.
