A CRICKET club has been kicked out of a championship league after racking up thousands of pounds of debt by failing to pay for the hire of school facilities.

Edinburgh Cricket Club has been told it can no longer use the Leith Academy ground after it accumulated £3000 in unpaid rent for last year's season.

Losing the ground has led to the club being axed from the Scottish National Cricket League (SNCL)
championship and could even see it expelled from the East of Scotland Cricket Association for bringing it into "disrepute".

Officials confirmed their decision to remove the club, which formerly played under the City of Edinburgh Pakistan Association banner, from the championship after learning of their eviction from the Academy Park ground.

A city council spokesman said: "Schools can't afford to have debts of this scale outstanding in the current economic climate.

"Leith Academy made numerous attempts, taking up a lot of time, to contact the club but to no avail."

However, Sardar Mohammed, president of Edinburgh Cricket Club, said all debts to Leith Academy had now been paid.

He said: "We were not given any notice. There was no threat in the letters they sent us that they were going to take the ground from us. It was a shock."

The club will meet this week to discuss their options for the future.