WARMINSTER captain Carl Clarke has been banned for two games by his club following comments he made regarding an umpire's performance.

Clarke told the Wiltshire Times and Chippenham News last week that his team received "shocking decisions" in their match against league leaders Bristol a fortnight ago.

The club pre-empted action from West of England Premier League administrator Chris Pannell by handing Clarke a two-match ban.

In his letter to the club, Pannell also informed Warminster they would receive a 10 point penalty for the captain's comments. The penalty all but ends Warminster's chances of a second successive promotion and leaves them perilously close to the relegation places in Premier Two.

The club could appeal against the 10 point penalty and there would be a review if they chose to do so, which could see the ban reduced or even increased.

Clarke served the first of his two-game ban against Bristol West Indians last Saturday and will also sit out tomorrow's clash at Knowle.

Pannell said: "All clubs were advised at the start of the season that anything like that would not be tolerated.

"The club decided to ban him (Clarke) from last week until next week. They suspended him before they had my letter."

Warminster secretary Phil Meadows has declined to comment and says no one from the club will speak to the Wiltshire Times and Chippenham News until at least the end of the season.

Meadows would not say if the club had received a complaint about Clarke's comments, or had chosen to ban the skipper after reading the report themselves.

Meadows said: "No comment."

When asked if the club would appeal against the 10-point penalty, Meadows gave the same answer.

A bad few days for the club continued on the pitch on Saturday as they were beaten by Bristol West Indians for the third time this season.

The visitors featured former Gloucestershire player Carl Greenidge, the son of West Indies legend Gordon Greenidge, in their line-up.

Warminster were quickly into their stride and cruised to 203-3 thanks to Mark Coxon-Tenty (92), Richie Underdown (13), Sean Maxwell (46) and Sean Adams (24).

But Adams, Dave Bateman, Ollie Sloan, Richard Davie and Tom Russell were all dismissed for the gain of only nine runs.

Warminster eventually finished on 222 with nine wickets down.

In reply West Indies' Shawn Bennett cracked 104 runs, much of those in partnership with Jamie Trenchfield, who made an impressive 64.

Harroon Crawford (23) and Greenidge (10) also contributed as the visitors reached their target in the 40th over.

5:52am Friday 25th July 2008

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