Kenilworth Cricket Club stripped of section nine premiership for fielding player under wrong name

A CRICKET club has been stripped of a premiership for listing one of its players under a different name in a grand final.

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A CRICKET club has been stripped of a premiership for listing one of its players under a different name in a grand final.

Kenilworth defeated Port Noarlunga by 10 wickets in the Adelaide and Suburban Cricket Association’s section nine flag decider at Port Noarlunga Oval on March 24.

But the association last week took the title away from the winners – and handed it to Port Noarlunga – after discovering Kenilworth had wrongfully fielded Ishfaq Khan under the name Ibrar Ahmad.

Khan opened the batting for Kenilworth and scored an unbeaten 42.

Association president Phil Davis said Port Noarlunga officials reported their suspicions after believing the person listed as Ahmad did not look like the one they had played earlier in the season.

Davis said he originally thought Kenilworth might have been deliberately deceptive but an association investigation confirmed it was an administrative mistake by a club official.

“Port Noarlunga are the winners of the premiership because, irrespective of how it occurred, Kenilworth played someone who wasn’t the person they said they were going to play,” Davis said.

“Once you play somebody under someone else’s name, you make a mockery of all those rules.

“It appears to be a monumental stuff-up, which has cost the club a premiership.”

The association investigation also revealed Isfaq Khan had played as Ahmad in Kenilworth’s semi-final win over Sheidow Park.

Ahmad was listed to have lined up in 11 games during the 2017/18 campaign.

Davis said the association was continuing to investigate the matter and considering imposing further sanctions on Kenilworth.

Kenilworth president John Gritzalis, who played in the grand final, said the rule breach was simply a clerical error.

“We acknowledge that Kenilworth played a cricketer under another name for the last part of the season,” Gritzalis said.

“The grand final should rightfully be awarded to Port Noarlunga.”

Port Noarlunga secretary and player Chris Smith said the incident was disappointing but would not comment further.

It is the third time in the past three decades the association have taken a game off a team for this type of offence.