Ex-Fordhouses man gets ban

Vermeulen, who has played eight Tests and 32 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe, reacted by walking towards the boundary and hurling the ball in the direction of spectators, but rather than find its intended target the ball hit the railings. He had to be restrained by club officials after the incident.

A Werneth member led Vermeulen back to the pavilion before his captain, Darren Shadford, conceded the match.

League chairman and former Werneth chairman Howard Donsfield said: "I was at the game and hope I don't ever see anything like it again - it was a sad sight for cricket.

"Discipline is a big issue for me at present and I'm determined to stamp anything like this out. It's not just about spectators either - there was a 15-year-old boy among Vermeulen's team-mates and it's not the kind of example he should set."

Fordhouses club secretary Tony Cox was amazed at the actions of his former batsman, who made the Zimbabwe team while at the Wolverhampton club.

Cox said: "Mark played for us for two seasons - 2002 and 2003 - and in all that time he conducted himself admirably.

"I'm really shocked by this because we never had a disciplinary problem with him."

Captain Gary Williams added: "He would volunteer extra hours for coaching - he loved coaching the kids - and he'd think nothing of jumping on the tractor for hours on end to help prepare the pitch."

Vermeulen has shown flashes of temper before. In his schooldays, he once reacted to a bad lbw decision by walking off with the stumps.

After close of play on the Friday of the Second Test against England at Chester-le-Street in 2003, Vermeulen was sent home from the tour after refusing to take the bus with the rest of the team from the ground to their nearby hotel after he had bagged a pair in one day.

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