Fubler banned for seven years by BCB

Lengthy ban: Fubler has paid a heavy price for his bad temper (File photograph by Akil Simmons)



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The Bermuda Cricket Board has banned Kavon Fubler from all cricket for seven years after he smashed the stumps and abused an umpire after being given out leg-before during a Logic Premier Division game last weekend.

The Willow Cuts all-rounder appeared at a disciplinary meeting on Thursday night where he was charged with several Level 4 offences relating to his behaviour in the game between Willow Cuts and Baileys Bay at Sea Breeze Oval.

Fubler may have escaped with a more lenient sentence were it not for the fact that he threw a ball at Cal Waldron, the umpire, after leaving the field, and had been heard to say he was going to smash his stumps if given out, immediately before doing so.

Janeiro Tucker severed a one game suspension last month after knocking a stump over in frustration after being hit for four during the Belco Cup semi-final against St Davids at Somerset Cricket Club.

No stranger to discipline problems, Fubler has previously been banned from Somerset Cricket Club after he subjected Molly Simons, the Somerset selector, to a foul-mouthed tirade after he was left out of the clubs Cup Match squad in 2011.

This weeks punishment follows on the heals of the life ban handed to Jason Anderson, the Bermuda wicketkeeper, for his part in an on-field fight with George OBrien last season. OBrien is still serving the six game suspension he was slapped with for his part in the incident.

Despite his behaviour, Fubler was able to continue playing in a game his side lost heavily, bowling 6.3 overs as Bay won by seven wickets. If the umpires had had their way he would not have been on the field at all.

In February the MCC introduced a system of red and yellow cards to be implemented in league cricket in Britain in an attempt to arrest the decline in standards of behaviour on the field.

Under the system, lesser infractions such as dissent, time-wasting, and excessive appealing, bring an immediate five-run penalty.

Red cards are issued in the event that a player threatens an umpire, player, spectator or official, uses foul or abusive language, or commits an act of violence on the field of play.

As in football, a red card removes the player for the rest of the match with no possibility of them being replaced. It does not preclude officials from further punishing the player once the match has finished.

Level 3 offences, namely intimidation of an umpire or player, the use foul or abusive language, or deliberately bowling a high full-pitched ball, result in a yellow card, which sees a player being removed for ten overs if his side is fielding.

If a batsman commits an offence, he is retired out until the fall of the next wicket. If he is the last man, the team will be deemed all out.

Each sending-off or yellow-card offence would also result in a five-run penalty.

The BCB reportedly consider implementing this system locally and was supposedly going to discuss it with the clubs. Nothing has yet been done, although one umpire said they had been begging the BCB to bring this in here since the start of the season.