A Merton cricket club is accusing the Surrey Cricket League of discrimination after it was kicked out of the league on Thursday.

Members of Ali Cricket Club, of Tudor Drive, Lower Morden, were informed of the decision by a letter after receiving ‘zero points’ for sportsmanship.

Teams in the league which covers south west London and Surrey, rate each other on sportsmanship after each match and give a score between zero and five.

Club chairman Fahim Akhter, 49, said: "It’s very shocking, we are very upset.

"I think we were very unfairly treated because we are an Asian team."

The club joined the league in 2012 and were champions in the third and second division, and were presented with the Surrey Cricket League Championship Cup at the championship dinner in early October.

Mr Akhter said they were then sent a letter from the league summoning them to a hearing on November 17 in which they were told they had received an ‘unprecedented’ score of 0 for sportsmanship from all of the other nine division teams.

When Mr Akhter asked why, he said the league failed to give specific examples.

Instead they stated there was dissatisfaction with Ali Cricket Club’s umpires' rulings on LBWs, as they had not given any in their matches.

Mr Akhter said this was ridiculous given that they are always a highly disputable decision.

He said: "What concerns me is that we promised to try to improve on what was mentioned at the hearing and we all shook hands.

We were so shocked to be terminated as we were under the impression that we would be given a chance to do better next season."

General secretary of the league Robin Ford said he had no comment on the claims made by the team, but did say: "We have a mixed ethnic membership of clubs and players in the league."

Club captain Syed Jaffary, 41, said he believes the league feel threatened by the success of the Ali club team.

Mr Jaffary won the best all-rounder title last year and an Ali Club batsman won best batsman this year, whilst Mr Jaffary says the team itself has progressed at an impressive rate after being champions two years in a row.

"I feel very disappointed and quite frankly discriminated against," he said.

According to Mr Akhter, two other league teams, the Croydon Lions and the Commonwealth team, also received zero for sportsmanship, but to his knowledge have not been terminated.

Ali Cricket Club consists of 20 to 40 year-olds who train at the Lower Morden grounds from January to April before playing in the league every Saturday from May to September.