An embarrassing administrative blunder has seen Mitchell Owen stripped of his Cricket Tasmania Premier League player of the year award.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Six days after the awards were presented, Cricket Tasmania announced that the New Town player should not have received the Emerson Rodwell Medal.
Despite polling 22 votes, Owen was ruled ineligible in accordance with competition by-laws, due to being found guilty of a code of behaviour violation early in the season.
While Owen received a suspended sentence and did not miss any games, the by-law states that a guilty outcome is grounds for ineligibility for any CTPL player of the year award.
A CTPL statement said: "Failure to recognise this prior to the awarding of the medal was an administrative oversight and action has already been taken to mitigate such circumstances in the future.
"Mitchell's suspended sentence was in place for the remainder of the 2022-23 season and is now no longer in effect."
As a result, North Hobart duo Yousaf Iqbal and Jack White have been named joint Emerson Rodwell Medallists for 2022-23, after both tallied 16 votes. This marks the first instance of joint winners from the same club.
The statement added: "The CTPL unreservedly apologises to Mitchell, Yousaf, Jack and their respective clubs for the error made and subsequent anguish caused. The CTPL commends both Mitchell and New Town on the manner with which they have handled this process and outcome."
A presentation will be made to Iqbal and White at the TCA Ground on Thursday morning.
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
