Enfield player David Bracewell said he felt aggrieved after the cricket club were deducted 12 points at the Lancashire League meeting due to "contractual irregularities".

The Dill Hall Lane club were also fined £200 but League president Jack Houldsworth said the whole league voted on the punishment and it should act as a warning to clubs in the future.

The offence dated back to June and was in regard to Enfield professional Adam Bracewell.

David said: "We signed Adam as our professional but he already had a stag party in Las Vegas booked for a weekend in June.

"He didn’t expect to be our pro but had done well at Rishton the previous season so we appointed him and he told us about the weekend he would miss.

"We knew that at the start of the season, that he would miss one game, and so we asked our former pro Gary Brent to sub pro for us on that day.

"We didn’t think there was a problem until it was pointed out to us, two weeks before Adam was due to go, that league rules say you can only replace a professional if they are injured or go back to represent their country

"We weren’t aware of this rule and it seemed to apply to overseas pros which Adam is obviously not.

"I understand why the rule is there – to stop clubs getting a good professional in for one-game to win an important match – but we weren’t doing that.

"Adam was willing to forego the stag party to avoid getting us into trouble but, as it happened, he got injured the week before at Haslingden and was actually out for three games after that.

"Because he couldn’t play, we told him to go on the stag party but we got an e-mail from league secretary Duncan Warbuton asking that Adam provide a doctors note to prove his injury.

"The league rules say you have to prove an injury with a doctors note within seven days but Adam was away for a week and so, when we produced the note, we were a day late.

"In the mean-time, we played the game Adam was due to miss against Accrington, Gary played and we won.

"People pay to watch games and want to see a good professional and we tried to get the best replacement we could and Gary had played for us before. We really didn’t think we were doing anything wrong.

"However the league ruled at last week’s league meeting that we had acted wrongly in appointing a professional who we knew couldn’t complete his contract.

"We tried to be honest at the league meeting – we weren’t trying to cheat anyone or get a better professional in to win a game and, at the end of the day, Adam was injured.

"We just feel aggrieved that we were punished. The points dedution doesn’t affect our league position (Enfield finished fourth from bottom) or our season but £200 fine is a lot to pay our for any cricket club.

"It has left a sour taste in our mouth at the end of the season and we have no right of appeal. We have learnt a lesson though and there is nothing we can do about it."

Jack Houldsworth said: "It was the decision of the league committee made up of the 14 clubs and the league executive to decide the sanction for a sub professional being played when there wasn’t a good reason.

"It was an infringement of the rule 32 paragraph 6 – the breach followed the submission of an invalid contract.

"This hasn’t set the precendent as the punishment could be financial and/or points deduction or points awarded or ordering a replay.

"All the clubs were represented at the meeting and voted on what was to happen. At the end of the day, all the clubs make the league rules and the Lancashire League committee just execute them.

"There are other cases of clubs being fined in silimar circumstances – Todmorden were fined £250 in 1978 when their professional went to Brazil playing golf.

"I won’t comment specifically about Enfield but this does show clubs will have to be careful in the future."

He continued: "But perhaps the rule about sub professionals is something we may have to look at for next season.

"Perhaps some refinements will be made as there is a rule where clubs must have a professional and this has led to amateurs being used as sub professionals at times. It is an area which perhaps needs clarification."

CHURCH star Ammer Mirza has been voted the Lancashire League Under 23 Player of the Year. The 19-year old was in his first year in the league but broke the club’s amateur batting record with 930 league runs which included three centureies and five half-tons. Jimmy Hayhurst is the new Accrington captain, replacing bowler David Ormerod who will carry on playing and helping out the 26-year-old.