Premier Cricket 2018-19: Fitzroy Doncaster’s protest over soft wicket against Danenong dismissed

Premier Cricket management has thrown out Fitzroy Doncaster’s protest over the day one Shepley Oval pitch after umpires had initially ruled the wicket unfit for play.

Tom Donnell lets one through to the keeper. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Premier Cricket management has thrown out Fitzroy Doncaster’s protest over the state of the day one Shepley Oval wicket following its Round 12 loss to Dandenong on Saturday.

Lions president Graeme Cook said the game was decided by the toss of the coin after the visitors were sent in on a soft wicket.

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Umpires had deemed the pitch unfit for play in the opening hour, delaying the start until 12pm.

The Lions lodged a protest on Sunday evening but by Monday afternoon it had been dismissed.

Fitzroy Doncaster celebrate a wicket. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“The game was played and won and we don’t believe that the grounds they submitted are sufficient to uphold a protest,” Premier Cricket specialist Peter Binns said.

“We acknowledge it wasn’t ideal but you have a couple of very experienced umpires in charge of the game. They can suspend play or call it off at any time if it is.”

It’s been suggested the curator watered the wicket on the Friday before the game, when the mercury reached 43 degrees, and covered it with hessian.

But an absence of late-afternoon sun then affected preparation of the wicket.

Cook said the opening day was “severely impacted by the condition of the wicket”.

“The wicket was very wet, damp on day one and effectively there is no real reason for that to have happened,” Cook said.

“There was no weather around, all the other games started and Dandenong’s didn’t.

“To be clear, there are rules clubs have to follow by having grounds ready to play and it wasn’t so we lost time in the match, and a couple of others things, so we just think it needed to be highlighted.”

Dandenong won the game after passing Fitzroy Doncaster’s total of 159 for the loss of seven wickets, jumping back into the eight with its sixth win of the season.

“At the end of the day, it significantly affected, even though play was delayed for an hour, the wicket was still very difficult in the first half of the day,” he said.

“In our report, there was a number of balls there were hitting players’ gloves and the ball was flying around and the umpires were concerned with the uneven bounce.”

Cook said the club would consider an appeal.

“In putting in the protestt, at the least we thought our concern should be taken seriously and placed on record,” he said.

“Obviously the best outcome would be giving us the points.”

Sam Elliott charges in. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Dandenong president Gary Davidson said the curator made an error in judgment.

“He put extra water into it to make sure it was fine for the next day and the cool change came about two hours earlier than had been expected,” Davidson said.

“That meant it just didn’t dry out as early as the curator would have like. Just unfortunate timing.

“On 40-odd degree days, you need to put water in it otherwise it crumbles and is no good and people complain about that.”

Fitzroy Doncaster sits third on the ladder with an 8-1-4 record, while Dandenong holds down eighth by one point.

The Lions have until the close of business on Wednesday to determine if they want to appeal the decision.

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