GLEN Dawson has been banned for the whole of next season and Weymouth sensationally docked 35 points for a dressing room joke that got out of control.

The Weymouth fast bowler caused a storm after writing the caption 'kill the ****' under a picture of Colehill's West Indian all-rounder Carl Brissett before the two sides met at Redlands in August.

Brissett and his team-mates spotted the offending poster, complained to the game's umpires and sparked a league disciplinary inquiry.

The offence led to the Seasiders - who missed out on the Dorset Premier Division title on the last day of the season - banning the 27-year-old Kiwi for the rest of last summer.

Now the Dorset Cricket League's disciplinary committee has decided to ban Dawson for 18 games next season.

This effectively rules him out of Weymouth's entire summer campaign.

And league bosses have also sensationally deducted Weymouth 35 points from this season's table, meaning they have now been leapfrogged by Colehill for second place in the final standings for last season.

The Redlands-based side will meet later this week to decide whether to appeal to the punishment made by a committee of three at a Blandford hearing.

Seasiders secretary Michael Pearce told The Dorset Echo: "We're still coming to terms with the decision.

"Weymouth Cricket Club took this matter very seriously, considered our position and decided to ban Glen for the rest of last season for what he did.

"We explained our position at the hearing and have now been told he has an 18-game ban, made up of two games for a previous offence and 16 for this incident.

"That effectively rules him out of the entire season next year while we, as a club, have also been docked 35 points from this season meaning we lose our runners-up position.

"This is obviously a serious punishment and, as a club, we need time to sit down and consider our position and whether we want to appeal."

Dawson's year-long ban casts serious doubt on the Kiwi's Weymouth future.

Dawson said: "I have already apologised for what I did and have had a lot of time to think about the incident since it happened.

"I accept it was a stupid thing to do - it had nothing to do with race, it was about him as a person.

"I am naturally disappointed by the league's decision but I do not want to say too much until the club meets to decide what we want to do."

Dorset Cricket League disciplinary committee chairman Geoff Pike yesterday refused to comment on the matter.