Upchurch are considering an appeal after being suspended from the Kent Village League for the season for fielding an ineligible player.

The club were among the leaders in Division 1 but have seen their record expunged after allegations they deliberately fielded an unnamed overseas player under another player’s name.

However, Upchurch chairman Jerry Overbury claimed: "We asked the league if the overseas player could play and the league initially couldn’t give us a definitive answer.

"We continued to play him but once the league decided and informed us that we could not play him, we stopped playing him. We did not play him after we were told by the league that we couldn’t."

Mr Overbury added: "We feel we have been appallingly treated by the league.

"We are thinking about an appeal. We have been suspended for the season but we are considering going to a better standard of cricket, maybe applying to the Lords East Kent League.

"We have been in the Kent Village League for a number of years and as such we are very disappointed with the way we have been treated.

"The other clubs will miss out on revenue from losing a match against us. I think some people have maybe got a problem with the club. The bigger we’ve got the more people seem to take umbrage with us.

"We run four sides on a Saturday and we have 54 players so we use the Sunday cricket to make sure everyone gets a game.

"We’ll play some friendlies while we decide where we go from here."