Reprieve for Reeve

The Test and County Cricket Board has confirmed that no action will be taken against Dermot Reeve following his controversial bat-throwing incident last month.

Reeve, batting against Hampshire's slow left-armer Raj Maru in the Championship match at Edgbaston, took drastic action to prevent the possibility of being caught off the glove by close fielders.

The Warwickshire captain elected to discard his bat and would therefore not be given out if he was caught off the glove as a batsman has to be holding his bat.

Richard Little, a spokesman for the TCCB, said: "We have issued a letter to the counties about this matter asking them to talk to their players about it. What Dermot has done is hit on a grey area in the law but we would not like it happening in the future because it is not in the spirit of the game."

Little confirmed the umpires took no action but reported the incident to the TCCB, who then consulted the MCC.

"We have not looked into changing the rules because it is actually covered under the spirit of the game," he said. "But if it was to happen again, we would deem that unacceptable."