News Limited has been forced to withdraw from the prestigious Publisher’s Cup cricket competition amid allegations of scoresheet tampering, sledging and dissent towards officials.

The 35-over tournament, played every second Sunday at Sydney’s Moore Park and featuring six teams from across the mainstream media, was thrown into chaos two weeks ago when News took its bat and ball and went home following an ugly January 17 fixture against Rest of the World.

In an extraordinary email sent to ABC team captain Michael Ward, and obtained by Crikey, organiser Derek Zilich condemns News for its “constant bullshit” in the competition.

“During their opposing batting teams’ session, they [News] would constantly question how many overs have been bowled with the scorer.

“As such, they would have multiple, drawn-out, pointless arguments to deliberately slow the game down, break the batsman’s concentration and undermine the scorer and umpires … just about every team in the comp has their own version of that experience with them.”

But the most serious allegations relate to the adding of extra runs on the scorebook while their opponents were on the field.

“Some of the other captains fed-back that specific personalities in the News Ltd team were ‘fudging’ the scorebook especially when they were chasing, but they have no conclusive evidence,” wrote Zilich.

“There’s an air of suspicion about them.”

It is not known if the “personalities” involved include any current News Limited journalists, although Crikey understands that the team may have been gradually overrun by ring-ins from local pubs who were happy to serve under the News banner.

Zilich said he was forced to act after News deliberately raised the ire of other teams in the competition, which include The Walkers, a motley bunch of tabloid television producers, a Foreign Correspondent/AAP team led by Mal Scott from Bloomberg and an “Invitation 11” of freelancers.

“I needed to get their assurances and guarantee that they conduct themselves like gentleman, show respect for their opposition, correct their on-field attitude, behaviour, anti-social approach and un-sportsman like tactics in all future Publishers’ Cup matches.”

When Zilich asked News Ltd captain Rob Hodges if he could guarantee the behaviour of his players and proposed an independent scorer, he was reportedly told to “get fucked”. Hodges then withdrew News from the competition amid a torrent of further abuse.

“If a captain cannot control and guarantee his players integrity and behaviour, then we can no longer welcome them in the Publishers’ Cup competition — so we accept their resignation,” Zilich said.

“Playing against News Ltd is not a pleasant experience and leaves a bad taste in peoples’ mouths.”

The ABC was set to take on News on February 28 but will now be confined to the nets with a bye.

The 13-year old Publisher’s Cup is considered the premier cricket tournament for media workers and the franchise has recently expanded to include soccer and a $20,000 cricket art prize.

Zilich told Crikey that News was welcome to re-join the competition next year, provided they have cleaned up their act and could guarantee no further unsavoury incidents.

News Limited spinner Greg Baxter did not respond to Crikey‘s queries before deadline.

* Crikey officially challenges News Limited to a game of cricket in Melbourne. If not, perhaps Test Match the board game?