Spot-fixing controversy: Kaneria lured me, says Westfield

Former teammate reveals details about corruption that led him to prison.


News Desk September 27, 2013
Kaneria was last year found guilty of inducing Westfield to deliberately under-perform while bowling in a county one-day match in 2009. PHOTO: AFP

In a seemingly considerable blow to Danish Kaneria’s insistence about his innocence, former Essex teammate Mervyn Westfield revealed yesterday how the erstwhile Pakistan leg-spinner lured him into spot-fixing.

Westfield received a four-month prison sentence as part of an anti-corruption campaign headed by the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).

On the other hand, Kaneria was banned for life for his part in the affair last year and lost his appeal against the ban in an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) hearing in July.



"I first met Danish at the age of 18 in the second year of my professional contract," said Westfield in a PCA video, according to ESPNcricinfo.

"He was a very bubbly person. Everyone liked him in the dressing room. He was a role model for most of the people in our team.

"Basically I was at his house and he asked if he could speak to me outside… that's when he started first talking about it.

"Danish said it's hard for a young person to get money nowadays in cricket and that's how the conversation started.

"According to him, a few people in the game were doing it as well. He and his friends kept on asking and asking and I felt pressured into it and I sort of had to do it."

Westfield was additionally banned from professional cricket for five years and club cricket for three years. In exchange for helping the PCA with its anti-corruption education programme, an ECB appeal panel in June reduced his ban from club cricket by a year, meaning he will be able to play again next season.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2013.

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COMMENTS (1)

respect | 10 years ago | Reply

Danish lost respect for sake of money. Shameful

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