Cricket is a team sport, and it is the aim of all players to make the team win. The tournaments featuring multiple teams often receive more viewership and fan interest than the bilateral games. One of the main reasons behind it is the unpredictability factor involved.
Recently, the Asia Cup 2022 tournament, and not many fans would have expected Sri Lanka to even make it to the Super 4s after the way they lost to Afghanistan in the first game. However, the islanders made a roaring comeback and became champions of the competition.
One of the main things in such cricket tournaments is the points table. All teams earn points according to the result of the match – either win, loss or draw. There are different points system in different tournaments, but the aim of all teams is the same, and that is to have the maximum number of points on the table.
No team wants to lose any points which they have already earned. However, on the following two occasions, a team lost points from its tally because of some weird reasons. Here’s a list of those two instances.
1. Oversized cricket bat
BREAKING: Durham have accepted a 10-point deduction from the Cricket Discipline Commission after batter Nic Maddinson admitted a breach of the rules. pic.twitter.com/pGYXpccYFg
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 29, 2022
In a bizarre development that happened in the ongoing County Championship competition, Durham team lost 10 points from their tally because the team’s batter Nic Maddinson admitted to have breached the rules of the game by using an oversized cricket bat.
Not many fans would have heard of the team losing points just because of a mistake from one player. However, Durham have accepted a 10-point deduction.
2. For accepting financial help
Durham were deducted 10 points due to Nic Maddinson's oversized bat during this County Championship.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) September 29, 2022
They are not strangers to huge point losses due to unusual reasons. In 2017, Durham lost 48 points due to accepting ECB's financial aid package.
Interestingly, this was not the first time that Durham lost points from their tally because of a weird reason. Five years ago, they accepted a deduction of a massive 48 points because they could not arrange their finances for the season. They sought for help from the England and Wales Cricket Board.
ECB obliged, but the Durham team had to lose 48 points because they accepted the financial aid package from the board.
