ONE of Britain’s oldest cricket clubs has been thrown out of its league after the sons of the world’s top umpire lied about being Scottish.
Ali and Hassan Dar, whose dad Aleem Dar is one of the sport’s leading global figures, falsely claimed they had been born in Glasgow in a bid to beat competition rules.
The pair posed as Umer Mustafa and Saleh Mustafa and claimed they had been born in Glasgow to allow them to play for Kilmarnock in the Western Union.
But the plan of the scheming siblings, who were born in Pakistan, last night backfired on Kilmarnock CC when they were relegated from the first division of the Union.
A Western Union official declared: “We received information regarding possible breaches of league rules and our investigation proved this to be the case.
“It was found that two players were registered with improper details and one, or both, participated in a number of matches during the 2015 season.
“The CMC [Cricket Management Committee] has decided to follow precedent by deducting all the points gained by Kilmarnock in the matches in which the two illegally registered players participated.
“Kilmarnock have therefore been deducted 49 points and are now relegated.
“The club stated that an individual had been responsible for supplying the information and exercised their right to appeal the decision to the Appeals Committee of the Western District Cricket Union on the grounds that club officials were unaware of the true circumstances.
“The original CMC decision to regard the breach as a club offence was upheld though, and the penalty applied accordingly.
“Kilmarnock have now accepted the punishment.”
Their place in this year’s competition will be taken by previously relegated St Michael’s.
Kilmarnock Cricket Club won the Western Union seven times in a golden era spanning 1949 to 1970. Famous former players include Scotland internationalists the late James Aitchison, and Bobby Hill, a past president of the Scottish Cricket Union.
Ironically, their best current player is Muhammad Azeem Dar, a Scotland Under-19 player and nephew of Aleem Dar.
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