HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) – Injury-prone fast bowler Kevin Hurdle has been banned from international cricket for a year by the Bermuda Cricket Board following a row with the team manager during a Caribbean tour earlier this year.

The BCB’s disciplinary committee also gave the Young Men’s Social Club player a one-year ban from domestic cricket, but this was cut to three games on appeal.

Hurdle’s punishment followed an altercation with team manager Lionel Tannock during the tour of the Caribbean in February while the team prepared for this month’s World Cup qualifiers in South Africa.

According to the BCB, Hurdle was caught smoking inside a pavilion by Tannock and after being asked to go outside fired a volley of obscenities in the manager’s direction.

“Subsequent to the recent World Cup qualifiers tour and the reports from tour management; Kevin Hurdle was found guilty of using obscene, offensive and insulting language to a Team Official,” a BCB statement said.

“The disciplinary committee levied a penalty of a one-year ban from international and domestic cricket.

“The sentence was appealed and the domestic ban was reduced to a three-game suspension. The one-year international ban was confirmed.”

Hurdle will be 33 when the ban runs out and his international career could be over given the need for the national team to rebuild after they failed to qualify in South Africa for the 2011 World Cup in Asia, finishing only ninth.

The ban comes on the back of Hurdle’s omission from the squad for the qualifiers because of a groin injury after he failed to prove his fitness in the Caribbean.

Although he was already injured before the tour started, national coach Gus Logie took Hurdle along after the player assured him he was fit.

However, Hurdle managed to bowl just six overs, conceding 53 runs, and taking only one wicket on the Caribbean tour before he broke down again.

At the time, Logie said that despite his disappointment with Hurdle’s fitness he believed he still had a future in the national set-up.

“Kevin Hurdle is an individual whom we really felt highly of,” Logie said. “I don’t think it is the end for him, it’s up to Kevin.

“At the end of the day I still believe that he could be an asset to Bermuda cricket, once Kevin focuses on getting himself fit. But in the end it is a decision for Kevin himself.”