A team sheet omission has brought scrutiny upon Merrivale's win against Nirranda on Saturday.
MERRIVALE cricketers face an anxious wait to learn if they will keep the points from their memorable victory against Nirranda.
Tiger Josh Stapleton’s record-breaking 180 could be in vain if an ineligible player complaint is upheld.
Nirranda has asked the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association (WDCA)match committee to look into the result of the match.
The issue surrounds Merrivale allegedly failing to list opening bowler James Fary on the team sheet before play got under way at Nirranda on Saturday.
Merrivale won the match by nine wickets, passing Nirranda’s 89, only one wicket down. It finished on 4-265.
Fary took 3-10, and was on a hat-trick at one point, before Stapleton smashed his way into the record books.
The team sheet oversight came to light when Fary came on to bowl the second over of the match.
Nirranda captain Jason Mungean notified the umpires of the situation, which prompted a short meeting on the field.
But umpires Nick Frampton and Justin Balmer allowed Fary to continue because Merrivale had selected him in the side via the MyCricket website.
His name also appeared in Friday’s edition of The Standard.
WDCA general manager Andrew Sloane confirmed Nirranda had disputed the result via MyCricket.
He said the WDCA match committee, chaired by Bruce Membrey, would speak to both clubs before determining a course of action.
“That’s currently sitting with the match committee and they’ll go through the process of speaking with concerned parties and investigating what the issue is,” he said.
“The process is the dispute is made by MyCricket and comes to the match committee.
“We speak to concerned parties if it’s warranted and come to an outcome.
“So far I’ve only heard things on the grapevine.
“We need to do these things with an open mind and take things as they are presented to us,” he said.
“I can’t go into detail about what my understanding of the situation is because I haven’t heard from all parties.”
Nirranda president Glenn Dalton would not comment on the issue or confirm if Nirranda had filed a complaint. Merrivale president Bill Fary said the situation was an unfortunate oversight.
“Their captain ran out on the ground when he (Fary) first started bowling and said he wasn’t on the team sheet,” he said.
“The umpires agreed he was named on MyCricket. Everyone went back to playing the game and thought that would be the end of it.
“No one from Nirranda complained at the time,” he said.
“It wasn’t as if he jumped out of a car and ran on the ground and started playing or he was at another game.”
afawkes@standard.fairfax.com.au