Cricket fight video: Players floored as local Australian game turns ugly with nine-month bans issued

Some ill-tempered sledging in a heated local Australian cricket match erupted into an on-field brawl with nine-and-a-half month bans handed out to two of the players involved.

Footage from the incident last weekend has gone viral online, with a Yackandandah paceman running towards an Eskdale batsman to celebrate wildly after bowling him out.

The celebration didn’t go down too well with the batsman, Jye Hodgkin – who shoulder barged the bowler, Mick Walker, and knocked him over.

Yackandandah fielder Danny Atwell quickly got involved and charged into Hodgkin with other fielders then rushing in to try to break up the scuffle.

Both Atwell and Hodgkin have been banned until January 1, 2018 by the regional Cricket Albury Wodonga Association.

The two clubs have condemned the fight, with Eskdale president Joel Parsons admitting Hodgkin had a “brain fade”.

“[Walker] had a lot to say, he was very lippy so it was a combination of a few things,” Parsons told Fox Sports Australia.

“[Hodgkin] was giving it back too and then he got bowled by [Walker] which is pretty degrading. When you get out and someone is running up in your face ... you don’t know if the guy is going to swerve out of the way or not, because he’s that close.

“There’s no place for violence in cricket. We were playing very passionately but you should never bump anyone I guess.”

Bowler Walker, who sparked the incident, was given a four-week suspended ban, leaving him free for Yackandandah’s title push after they won the match by five runs.

Atwell, though, will miss the rest of the season and a large chunk of the next campaign, starting with the upcoming preliminary final against Kiewa.

“He’s [Atwell] extremely remorseful of what happened and losing the chance of possibly participating in a grand final is what’s hurting him more than anything,” said Yackandandah president Reon Garvey. “It was an isolated incident. Generally I think our relationship with Eskdale is pretty good.

“Danny is a great young man and like Mick Walker, who is a life member and an extremely talented cricketer, they’ve both stayed at Yak for their whole careers. They’re both blokes that give 120 per cent.”

The incident came just days after law-makers the Marylebone Cricket Club announced new rules to penalise bad on-field behaviour.

At the umpires’ discretion, they will be empowered to issue warnings, award penalty runs and send players from the field for bad behaviour, including excessive appealing, showing dissent and intentionally making physical contact.

“I understand people are passionate about their sport and where they come from – they look after their hometowns – but this is overstepping the mark, and it’s a big overstep,” Cricket Albury Wodonga Association chairman Michael Erdeljac told Win News television.

Additional reporting: Agence France-Presse