Plea to halt cricketer's deportation

The Home Office has been urged to lift the threat of deportation hanging over a former West Indian international cricketer who has lived in Britain for 29 years, but has had his application for a work permit rejected on an apparent technicality.

Hartley Alleyne, 50, was a first-class cricket bowler for his native Barbados, Worcestershire and Kent. In 2005 he became a resident sports coach at St Edmund's School, Canterbury, and applied for a work permit. But he said his application failed as he did not hold an NVQ level three certificate in sports coaching, which he has subsequently obtained. His appeal failed and he may now have to leave the country within 28 days, leaving behind his English wife and three children.

"I have lived here for a long time, having left Barbados when I was 21, yet I'm still facing deportation," he said. Julian Brazier, the Tory MP for his constituency, said he was "horrified" by the decision.