Leicestershire's relegation to County Championship Division Two has been confirmed after the club's points deduction for breaching pitch regulations was upheld.

The Foxes were hit with a 27-point penalty, later cut to 19, after the surface at Grace Road was rated "poor" by the match referee following the win over Glamorgan in August.

Leicestershire, who argued the state of the pitch was due to the shooting of an unscheduled Bollywood film days before the Glamorgan fixture, had eight points from the original punishment of 27 reinstated but then appealed against the 19-point sanction.

However, the appeals panel supported the initial finding that the Midlanders had failed to act reasonably in preparing the wicket and, as a result, the club have slipped into the second tier of the Championship after finishing 17 points behind third-bottom Essex.

Had the appeal been successful and Leicestershire awarded all of their points back, Essex would have joined bottom team Hampshire in going down.

A section of the County Championship's playing conditions stipulates teams charged with producing a pitch rated as poor or below average earn zero points from that particular game.

Leicestershire earned 19 points from the 42-run win over Glamorgan - 16 from the victory itself and a further three bonus points.

The Foxes were playing in Division One for the first time since 2003 having won promotion by winning the second tier in 2025.