Life ban for ‘grave danger to cricket’ Danish Kaneria

Published on 23/06/2012 03:34

Danish Kaneria was banned from English and Welsh domestic cricket for life and described as “a grave danger” to the sport following his involvement in a spot-fixing plot.

The 31-year-old Pakistani was yesterday found guilty by the England and Wales Cricket Board of “cajoling and pressurising” former Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield into accepting cash in return for trying to concede a set number of runs in an over during a Pro 40 match in 2009.

“We regard Danish Kaneria as a grave danger to the game of cricket and we must take every appropriate step to protect our game from his corrupt activities,” the ECB’s disciplinary panel said in a statement. “Accordingly, we are unanimously of the view that the only appropriate sanction in relation to both charges is one of suspension for life and that is the sanction we impose.”

Westfield, who admitted a charge of receiving a reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute, has been suspended for five years. In February Westfield was sentenced to four months in prison after admitting a spot-fixing charge at the Old Bailey.

Westfield will be allowed to return to club cricket in the final two years of his suspension under strict conditions to be set out in the ECB disciplinary panel’s written ruling. The panel also warned that were Westfield to have committed the offence in 2012 – when the anti-corruption education and training programmes were in place – he would have been given a nine-year ban.

On Kaneria, the panel were damning of his actions. “As we have found, [Kaneria’s offences] involve the deliberate corruption of a young and vulnerable player [Westfield] and, we are satisfied, various attempts to involve others in the net of corruption,” the panel statement read.

“As a senior international player of repute he plainly betrayed the trust reposed in him in his dealings with fellow team-mates and we regard his persistent efforts to recruit spot-fixers as being a seriously aggravating factor in his case.

“Kaneria has made no admission, has shown no remorse and sought to cast blame on other plainly innocent persons.”

lHeavy rain forced umpires to abandon the third and final one-day cricket match between England and West Indies at Headingley yesterday, although the result had little bearing on the series, which England were leading 2-0.