Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, has been named in court as the alleged go-between in the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing case as revelations came to light that other Essex cricketers had been approached to fix matches.Westfield, 23, was at the High Court in London to find out his sentence after admitting to accepting £6,000 in return for conceding a set number of runs off an over in a Pro40 match against Durham in September 2009.
Before the sentence was handed out, which was expected during the afternoon following a break for lunch, it was confirmed that the ECB had banned Westfield from all cricket with immediate effect pending further investigation. Following his release by Essex he had been playing club cricket.
Westfield was paid despite failing to give up the agreed 12 runs - Durham managed just to score 10 from the over, the first of the bowler's spell, in a game which Essex went on to win.
It was revealed that Kaneria had spoken openly about fixing in the Essex dressing room but former captain Mark Pettini said in a statement that he had not taken the claims seriously. Essex coach Paul Grayson also admitted he had heard Kaneria's claims of fixing, but before seamer Tony Palladino, who now plays for Derbyshire, reported Westfield no players had taken action. Former Essex batsman Varun Chopra, who now plays for Warwickshire, was named as another player who had been approached.
The court was told that the ICC had warned Kaneria in 2008 about connections with a suspicious bookmaker called Arun Bhatia. Kaneria was originally arrested in connection with the investigation in 2010 but was released without charge. He has been a regular selection in the Habib Bank and Sind line-ups during the current domestic season, but hasn't played for Pakistan since the Trent Bridge Test against England in 2010.
The court heard that in his initial police interview, Westfield denied accepting money, and said no approach had come from Kaneria, but that he had been approached to fix. The prosecution then said that Westfield changed his mind in mid-December and decided to plead guilty.
When the defence began to outline their mitigations for Westfield they said the player accepted the "devastating effect" his actions had. At one point, however, Judge Anthony Morris interrupted the defence to say: "It is difficult to accept his total remorse, shame and regret when the defendant has lied on a number of occasions about his involvement in this matter."
When the defence said that Westfield hadn't received anti-corruption training the judge replied: "Did he really need training and education to realise this was a plainly corrupt approach?," to which Westfield's QC, Mark Milliken-Smith QC, replied "No." The judge criticised Westfield's defence for finding a 'cricket expert' to try and prove there was no evidence he had underperformed.
The truth only came to light in 2010 when Westfield confessed to then team-mate Palladino and showed him the money he had received. Palladino had been due to be the prosecution's main witness in the case before Westfield decided to admit his crime. After Palladino chose to go to the authorities, Essex police conducted a six-month investigation.
Spot-fixing: Danish Kaneria named in spot-fixing case | England Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo
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