Lancashire have been deducted six County Championship points by the cricket discipline commission panel.

The cricket discipline commission panel has taken six County Championship points away from Lancashire.

After receiving five fixed penalties for pitch and/or equipment damage between September 2020 and September 2021, they were handed a maximum 12-point suspended sentence in November 2021.

For "minimum level one offenses" this year by Dane Vilas and Luke Wells, they subsequently received fixed punishments.

These appeared in contests with Northants in July and Warwickshire in June.

Lancashire drops to third place in Division One after the deduction, 35 points behind Hampshire.

To lose points for what are, in our judgment, minor infractions after all our hard work over the winter and in the County Championship this season, according to director of cricket performance Mark Chilton, is heartbreaking.

"With our suspended sentence from previous indiscretions, we knew the position we were in at the start of the season, addressed this as a group and set our expectations of one another.

"In our opinion, both fixed penalties we received were unduly harsh punishments, which could have gone either way, and it is this inconsistency in the decision making that makes this difficult to take."

Lancashire opener Wells, 31, said it was "very frustrating" to have suffered the deduction, adding: "I'm gutted that I was implicated in this after hitting my bat on the ground after being bowled last year v Glamorgan at Cardiff and shouting in frustration whilst inside the changing room at Northants.

"Apologies to Lancs fans and of course the lads who've scrapped so hard for every single point we've got this year.".