CRAVEN Cricket League clubs have voted to cancel this season's Cowling Cup final.

The decision was taken at a lengthy meeting at Skipton LMS club on Monday night, when a full meeting of member clubs strongly supported a recent executive committee decision that Pendle Forest should be expelled from the competition for breach of regulations.

The Fence club broke bye-law 6.2 when they played Peter Hakin in their Cowling Cup campaign after he had previously played for Jimmy Nelsons in the first round of the Wynn Cup.

There is no small print in the regulations which stipulates that 'intent' must be proven. A breach is a breach it seems. Black and white. Tempering justice with mercy was clearly not on the agenda.

The Nelson club has been fined a modest £10 for playing Hakin without obtaining the necessary transfer form and thereby plunging the league into a desperate situation, but Pendle Forest claims that they were innocent victims of a situation outside their control cut little ice with their peers.

Having heard the finalist's appeal, the clubs not directly involved - Pendle Forest, Jimmy Nelsons and Barrowford had their say but did not vote - decided that a breach of regulation had been committed and that, in accordance with precedent, the offending club must pay the penalty.

At that point, the problems moved from black and white to every shade of grey. Having ruled Pendle Forest out of the equation, the committee was then plunged into an impossible dilemma as they considered who should meet Barrowford in the final.

Ultimately it was decided that no suitable solution could be found and that the only sensible course of action was to abandon the competition altogether.

Inevitably, the outcome seems extremely unfair to Barrowford, who have been denied their place in the spotlight having won through fairly and squarely.

The most remarkable aspect of this sorry episode, of course, is the fact that although 'P. Hakin b Khan 5' appeared in print following the Wynn Cup tie, no-one in that neck of the woods appears to have noticed the anomaly at the time - or felt it appropriate to bring it to the league's attention. For some reason, it took until the week before the scheduled final at Bradley before the issue was raised.

No reasonable person would expect league officials to check every sheet, every week against club registration lists and transfer forms. To suggest as much is to volunteer for the job of registrar.

What does seem most odd, however, is that no-one from a tightly-knit community seems to have known about the player's 'guest' appearance until the time when revealing the information left officials with virtually no room to manoeuvre.