Essex have been dealt a blow after their captain Ryan ten Doeschate was hit with a two-match ban.

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) have confirmed that he has received a penalty under the ECB’s Fixed Penalty Directives.

ten Doeschate will now be suspended for Essex’s Royal London One-Day Cup Play-Off against Yorkshire on Thursday.

He will then also be banned for either the Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final next Monday should Essex qualify or the Specsavers County Championship match against Nottinghamshire, which begins next Wednesday (June 20).

ten Doeschate was reported by umpires Jeremy Lloyds and Steve O’Shaughnessy during Essex’s Specsavers County Championship match against Lancashire, which was settled yesterday with a big win for Anthony McGrath's side.

The Cricket Liaison Officer, Tony Pigott, determined that ten Doeschate had committed a Level 1 breach of the Directives (wilfully mistreating any part of the cricket ground, equipment or implements used in the match, and using language that in the circumstances, is obscene, offensive or insulting).

ten Doeschate has committed previous breaches during the past 24 months.

The penalty for this subsequent breach at Level 1 is therefore three penalty points, bringing him to nine penalty points, the threshold for an automatic suspension.