Kaneria, Westfield due for disciplinary hearing at ECB – Cricket News Update
According to a recently released ECB statement, Pakistan leg-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danish-Kaneria-c1314 and Essex pacer Mervyn Westfield are due to face an ECB disciplinary panel in the first week of May in relation to spot-fixing charges.
“Mervyn Westfield and Danish Kaneria have been notified that an ECB disciplinary panel hearing will take place at which charges will be heard relating to their alleged breaches of the ECB's anti-corruption directives,” the statement read.
“The charges relate to the corrupt activities which led to Mervyn Westfield's criminal conviction in February. The chairman of the ECB's cricket discipline commission, Gerard Elias QC, will chair the hearing.”
Westfield, 23, was charged and convicted in February this year for having accepted 6,000 pounds for agreeing to deliberately concede a fixed amount of runs in the first over of a September 2009 Pro40 match between Essex and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Durham-c782.
The pacer pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 4 months in prison, in addition to being issued an interim suspension. During the proceedings, his Essex teammate Danish Kaneria was named as the man who had “targeted” Westfield, and facilitated the deal.
Kaneria, whose stint with Essex lasted from 2005 to 2010, was allegedly set to accept 4,000 pounds for having acted as the middleman. However, despite having previously been warned by the ICC over his connections with suspicious bookmaker Arun Bhatia, the
Essex police were unable to find evidence which linked Kaneria to Westfield’s case and the charges were dropped.
However, the 31-year-old has not been considered for the national squad since his implication in the case, and is yet to be cleared by the Pakistan Cricket Board’s integrity committee. Despite this, he continues to play in the domestic circuit, and served
as Sindh's skipper in the Pentangular Cup. However, the hearing could put an end to that, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 rules dictate that all bans meted out by the ECB must be replicated by all other boards.
In this light, the hearing will prove crucial. Various players have agreed to provide testimony, including Tony Palladino of Derbyshire, and Warwickshire's http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Varun-Chopra-c2745 (both of whom were associated with Essex at the time of the offense), in addition to
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 captain Mark Pettini.
Westfield’s case marked the 4th time in four months that a case of corruption in the sport was brought to light, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-Butt-c2418 having previously been jailed for spot-fixing in a separate match.
Tags: