The Wagga City coach has been named Wagga’s best cricketer for a record four years in a row, but had his integrity questioned following the incident on Saturday.

Nicoll ran out Sam Perry from the non-strikers end before bowling, drawing the ire of Wagga RSL captain James Richards.

While not questioning the legality of the dismissal, Richards believes Nicoll never should have appealed in the first place.

“I doubt there would be another player in the competition who would have asked for him to be given out,” Richards said.

“He has embarrassed himself and his club, and that is how he is going to be remembered now.

“I would hope no player at out club would do that and lower themselves to that level.”

However Nicoll has defended his actions and his sportsmanship.

He believes he was well within the rules of the game.

“I think that is an overreaction,” Nicoll said. “If you look at the rules I haven’t done anything wrong.

“The umpires, I thought, probably would have given him a warning, but they gave him out.

“Both umpires actually said there was nothing wrong with what I have done at all.”

Nicoll represented Australian Country this season and has been a standout since returning to Wagga from Canberra six years ago.

Wagga City need to win to keep their premiership defence alive and he sees no issue with the dismissal.

“I think it is a bit rich to say I have embarrassed myself coming from someone who has batted at six and seven his whole career and hidden down the order,” he said.

“I think it has pushed the boundaries there claiming sportsmanship.

“It is probably a little bit far considering I haven’t done anything illegal at all, haven’t broken any rules and both umpires agreed with what I did.”

Wagga RSL head into day two of the match at 8-192.

Josh Staines was a standout for the Bulldogs making 79 while John Hoey remains unbeaten on 27.

Richards isn’t sure what tactics to take into next weekend.

“We went in with a plan to try and bat out some overs so we put ourselves in a good spot,” he said. “We just have to decide next week whether to bat again or bowl.

“If we win this game we are going to be playing finals so we are not going to leave ourselves without a chance of winning.”

Nicoll is also happy with where his team is placed.

“We toiled pretty hard, I thought they batted really well, but we just have to try and knock over the last couple of wickets and bat really well,” he said.