Herbie Bascome avoided punishment from Bermuda Cricket Board after claiming he had nothing to do with the letter which criticised the decision to cancel his son Oronde’s cricketing scholarship.

The assistant national coach was found not guilty of bringing the game into disrepute by the disciplinary committee last Wednesday after convincing them that the signature on the document sent to the Board and published in The Royal Gazette on February 21 was not his.

The letter, which appeared from the printed names at the bottom to have been co-written by both Bascome and his wife Carla, called into question the Board’s competence and fairness after they announced that funding for Oronde to attend the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) was to be withdrawn.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, the Board sought to clarify exactly why Bascome had been found not guilty while South African Saleem Mukuddem had received a season’s probation for making similar accusations in an interview with this newspaper a few weeks after being suspended for a game during the World Cup.

“Mr. Herbie Bascome was found not to be in contravention of the Code of Conduct,” the statement read.

“Mr. Bascome was summoned to the hearing as a result of a letter that was sent to the BCB and copied to The Royal Gazette> The letter was purportedly signed by both Mr. Bascome and his wife Carla Bascome. Mr. Bascome demonstrated that the signature was not his and stated to the disciplinary committee that not only did he not sign the letter (but) he completely distanced himself from the comments therein.

“The disciplinary committee accepted Mr. Bascome’s version of events and based on evidence presented by Mr. Bascome concluded that he had not signed the letter.”

When asked who Bascome claimed forged his signature on the original letter, the BCB made no comment.

Mukuddem’s comments, however, were deemed to have brought the game into disrepute — with the disciplinary committee concluding that he should have aired his grievances to the Board privately rather than through the media.

“As specifically provided for in the Code of Conduct the disciplinary committee has the right to interpret the spirit of the rules and also the right to take into account the prior conduct of the individual,” the statement continued.

“The disciplinary committee concluded that Mr. Mukuddem’s comments were an infraction of the Code of Conduct and that he should have used other avenues to express his dissatisfaction.

“Mr. Mukuddem consequently received a severe reprimand for his actions and was placed on probation for the remainder of the 2007 domestic cricket season.”