Why the length of young Hawke's Bay cricketers' bans was reduced after appeal

Two players banned for the season after this game were back on the field on Monday after a successful appeal saw their suspensions reduced.

Suspensions for two young Hawke's Bay cricketers were reduced on appeal due to a technicality around the length of their bans.

In February, the teenage sons of Hawke's Bay Cricket chief executive Craig Findlay and Napier Tech's club manager Mike Pawson were banned for the season after complaints of racist and homophobic sledging.

But the two returned to the field over the weekend and then played in the Napier Boys' High School 1st XI's Gillette Cup knockout finals matches in Palmerston North on Monday.

Hawke's Bay Cricket Association (HBCA) chairman James Rainger said the season ban was successfully appealed last week at a second hearing under New Zealand Cricket national commissioner Mike Heron QC.

Rainger said the primary reason for the reduction was that the commissioner of the original code of conduct hearing, John Greenwood, was unaware of how many scheduled playing days the players had upcoming and accordingly decided to suspend them over a time period.

HBCA's statement on the outcome of that hearing said Greenwood "suspended the two players from playing until the end of the 2020-21 season, effectively a ban of 10 weeks, including the three-week standdown already served."

Rainger said Heron felt a better approach was to look at how many games they would miss and adjusted it down accordingly.

One player was suspended for 14 games and the other for 10 games after the adjustment.

This means they are free to play again, and both players took the field for the Napier Boys' High School 1st XI (a side coached by Mike Pawson) in their Central Districts competition.

"Mr Heron emphasised that by altering the sanction it does not reduce the seriousness of the conduct," Rainger said.

"He said that the conduct was completely unacceptable and hurtful."

Both hearings concluded that there had been racist and homophobic abuse during a Twenty20 match between a Napier Tech XI and a Western Districts Auckland Blue XI on January 21.

Western Districts Secondary School Cricket Association president Lynn Fuller said she could not comment on the appeal hearing outcome because of HBCA rules that mean only HBCA can comment on the matter.

A spokesperson for New Zealand Cricket said it regards the option to appeal a Code of Conduct finding as "an important part of a just and fair process".

"It is satisfied changes to the sanctions referenced do not reduce, or in any way excuse, the seriousness of the offending described."