The eagerly-awaited disciplinary hearing into the pitch battle between Aston Rowant’s Tim Miles and Basingstoke’s Dean Nurse has been called off again.

The Home Counties Premier League’s original decision on the case had to be rescinded because neither club was invited to attend the meeting, as their rules required.

A new hearing, in front of a different committee, was rescheduled to take place at High Wycombe tonight – the third time a date for the meeting has been fixed.

But the league’s ability to call such a meeting has been challenged, and a spokesman confirmed it has been called off, pending talks with the England & Wales Cricket Board.

The actual offence took place in the Division 2 West match at Rowant way back on Saturday, August 22, when the two players were involved in a fracas on the pitch, after Nurse took offence to a beamer bowled by Miles.

At the first hearing, Australian Miles was banned for five years and Rowant were docked 25 points, which effectively prevented them winning the title and securing promotion to Division 1.

Nurse received a year’s ban, while Basingstoke were docked five points, which had no affect on their relegation.

However, inexplicably, the league had ignored their own procedures, which required the clubs to be allowed to attend the hearing.

So the meeting was annulled and all decisions rescinded.

I understand the basis to the objection of the new hearing concerns a sentence in paragraph 2.5 under the league’s ‘disciplinary complaints and appeals procedure’, concerning the calling of a hearing within 14 days of the offence.

It states: ‘Some discretion will be permitted to vary this date in the event off real emergencies, at the sole discretion of the manangement committee. This discretion will not normally be used.’ Those objectors are understood to query whether this is a ‘real emergency’.