Irving Romaine’s slim chances of playing in the ICC World Twenty20 global qualifying in Dubai in March have been dashed.The veteran Bailey’s Bay cricketer was banned last September from international and domestic cricket until July, 2012 after being found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute in a Premier 50-Over match involving his club and Willow Cuts at Sea Breeze Oval.He appealed against the ruling in the hope of being cleared to contend for a spot on Bermuda’s qualifying squad, but only succeeded in having his punishment reduced from ten to nine months, which has put paid to his travel plans.The hard-hitting Bay batsman and occassional spinner landed himself in hot water with local cricket’s governing body for showing serious dissent towards umpire Hector Watson over a disputed boundary early in Cuts’ innings that eventually led to the match being abandoned.Romaine later owed up to committing the offence and expressed remorse for his actions which resulted with him being summoned to a disciplinary hearing for the first time in his career.“I apologise to the umpires, to the fans and to my team-mates,” Romaine told The Royal Gazette in a previous interview.He did, however, strongly object to the length of his suspension which he felt was too severe given it was the first time he had been in trouble with the BCB.“I think the ban is lengthy for someone going before the disciplinary committee for the first time,” he said.“I thought that the punishment was too harsh because Irving has never been in problems before,” said local cricket legend Cal (Bummy) Symonds. “The ban was uncalled for and if anything he should’ve received three or two games.”Symonds also took issue with umpire Watson for abandoning the match.“Hector was the senior umpire there that day and he is the one who brought the game into disrepute by walking off the field,” he said. “Even in Test matches you have bowlers saying things to umpires, but you don’t see them walking off the field because they get scolded.“If you take abuse then as the umpire you write the player up in the book and let them come under the scrutiny of Bermuda Cricket Board rather than walk off the field and abandon the game.”From the outset BCB first vice-president Allen Richardson made it perfectly clear that Romaine’s ban would include both domestic and international cricket.“There was no way we were going to say you can play international cricket because you’re really opening up Pandora’s Box then,” he said. “It is all cricket and we’ve already made that disctinction.”Romaine, who captained Bermuda at the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean, won’t be eligible to play domestic cricket until June, 2012.He sat out last July’s regional ICC World Twenty20 qualifying tournament in Florida through injury, which limited the player to making cameo appearances for his club last season.