WA cricketer Sam Fanning has been banned for four games for fixing the pitch in the WA Premier Cricket Final. Images: Getty Images/The West Australian
The Western Australian Premier’s final cricket The final was marred by controversy after man-of-the-match Sam Fanning was suspended for four games for field-tampering. Fanning had guided Perth CC to a convincing win over Bayswater-Morley CC, ending the club’s 74-year Premier League dry spell.
However, there was a postscript to the 217-run win that cited Fanning for wicket manipulation. He was subsequently handed a four-game ban by WA Cricket, with two others suspended.
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A vision had emerged showing Fanning digging his spikes into the protected area of the Lilac Hill pitch on day one of the two-day game. He later hit 123 balls from 197 as Perth stacked on the runs.
Fanning, a WA cricket contract player who played four Sheffield Shield games for WA on his first-class debut this summer, left High Performance general manager Kade Harvey “disappointed” in his actions. In a statement, Harvey said Fanning’s actions “did not represent our values.”
“WA Cricket expects high standards of behavior from all contract players on and off the pitch. We were disappointed to learn of the incident involving Sam, which did not reflect our values,” the statement said.
“Besides the punishment, we will work with Sam and provide an education and development plan aimed at living our values and making better decisions going forward.”
WA’s Sam Fanning scored with four game bans
Fanning was part of the 13-man WA squad for the Sheffield Shield final but ultimately did not make the team. The 20-year-old is considered a future talent for the state, notching 137 runs with an average of just under 20, highlighted by a half-century against NSW.
He also scored 50 points against India in a T20 warm-up for WA and was an U19 representative for Australia.
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