Kaneria's test future dark after spot-fixing accusation

THE Test future of Pakistani leg spinner Danish Kaneria is in jeopardy following his arrest during a betting probe in England.

While Kaneria was released on bail until September 15 - meaning he is free to play and would be eligible for the series against Australia in July - Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Wasim Bari yesterday could not guarantee that Kaneria would be retained in the side.
''We have not received any documentation as yet, it would be unfair to make a comment until I know the full details,'' Bari said.

Kaneria, who played the last two Tests against Australia here last summer, is under investigation for alleged spot-fixing during an English domestic game last season.
The 29-year-old and Essex teammate Mervyn Westfield were arrested by police last week and questioned over accusations of fraud, namely betting on a game they were playing. It's understood the investigation centres around a Pro40 (England's 40-over competition) win against Durham in September last year. Spot-fixing relates to betting on small outcomes within a game, such as how many runs or extras will be conceded off a certain over.
Kaneria has denied any wrongdoing, saying after he was first linked to the case last month: ''The story is baseless. I have played my cricket for Pakistan as well as for Essex, with pride and honesty … For the last two years I have been Essex's best performer and have never done anything wrong.''
An Essex Police spokesman said at the weekend: ''Two men from Chelmsford have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into first-class domestic cricket match irregularities.

''The investigation began in March 2010 following allegations received about two Essex county cricket players. On Friday, 14 May, two men aged 22 and 29 were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and both were released on police bail until Wednesday, 15 September pending further inquiries.''
Essex Cricket Club confirmed the two men were Kaneria and Westfield, a fast bowler.
International Cricket Council president David Morgan said his organisation remained vigilant over spot-fixing.

''Cricket is full of discreet events - overs of six balls, power plays, in first-class cricket the morning, the afternoon and the evening [sessions],'' Morgan told AFP. ''There are lots of these discreet events that attract people who gamble.
''What is very clear is that we are extremely vigilant. We have the anti-corruption and security unit. They look very carefully at movements in terms of the amounts bet on particular issues and so on.

''I think cricket is very fortunate in that we've had 10 years of operation of the anti-corruption and security unit.''
Australia play Pakistan in two Tests in England from July 13 and Kaneria would ordinarily be an automatic starter. He has played 58 Tests, taking 254 wickets at 34.27.

Essex retain their faith in Danish Kaneria

Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan leg spinner under police investigation for his alleged role in spot-fixing, is expected to join Essex when they travel by coach to the Netherlands on Thursday for a Clydesdale Bank 40 match.

He also remains part of Pakistan’s plans for their tour to England next month unless charges are brought against him.

Kaneria was arrested and questioned under caution by Essex Police last Friday along with Mervyn Westfield, a young fast bowler, as part of an investigation into alleged spot-fixing in a Pro40 match against Durham last season.

It has been reported that Kaneria introduced Westfield to a bookmaker who offered money in exchange for Westfield bowling poorly in one over. Both players have denied the allegations and were released on bail.

While county staff have been instructed not to comment on the case, The Times was told that the investigation will have no impact on selection unless charges are brought. Kaneria played for Essex against Kent last week and is expected to play against the Netherlands on Friday.

An official of the Pakistan Cricket Board told The Times yesterday that no request has been made by the ECB to drop Kaneria for the tour to England, which begins in late June and features “neutral” Test matches against Australia as well as four Tests with England.

“This is just a media report now,” the PCB said. “We have received no official comment, so there is nothing to change our plans. We won’t select the squad for a couple of weeks.” In normal circumstances, Westfield, 22, would have been a candidate to play for the county in the five-wicket victory over the Bangladeshis that concluded yesterday. Essex fielded a second-string attack that included two first-class debutants and two strike bowlers in Maurice Chambers and Tony Palladino, who, like Westfield, a former England Under-19 player, are on the fringe of the first XI.

Westfield has made little impact in the second XI this season, taking no wickets in three matches, and was playing club cricket for Wanstead on Saturday, when he made 66 not out against Gidea Park & Romford. The county would not say whether he will be the side to play in the second XI match against Hampshire today.

It is understood that police opened the case in March after an Essex player reported suspicions about the alleged fraud to senior players, who asked the club to investigate, which has made for a difficult atmosphere in the dressing room.

Palladino, a 26-year-old fast bowler who looked impressive against the Bangladeshis, begins a month-long loan with Kent and could feature in their LV= County Championship match against Durham at Canterbury today. There is no suggestion that Palladino is implicated in the spot- fixing allegations, but his spell away from the club may still come as a relief.

Essex lost five wickets in chasing 130 to beat the Bangladeshis at Chelmsford yesterday. Palladino took two more wickets to finish with six in the match as the touring side laboured to a total of 211 that was boosted significantly by a last-wicket stand of 46.

Essex pair Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield arrested in spot-fixing

London: Danish Kaneria, Essex's Pakistan wrist spinner, and young fast bowler Mervyn Westfield have been arrested by Essex police on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud following the police's investigation into alleged spot-fixing in Essex's Pro40 match against Durham last September

Both men appeared at Brentwood police station on Friday and were questioned under caution before being released on bail until Sept 15, pending further inquiries.

As neither has yet been charged with any offence, both are free to continue playing cricket until then, by which time Pakistan will have completed their Test series against England. That should allow Pakistan's selectors to at least pick Kaneria, with only a modicum of controversy hanging over him.

That series needs Kaneria, though the England and Wales Cricket Board, as full signatories to the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption code, will be torn over his presence.

Now that Shane Warne is retired, he is the world's pre-eminent wrist-spinner, and unless Pakistan's selectors decide not to select him while the investigation is ongoing, he is crucial to their competitiveness in that series.

Essex police had wanted to interview Kaneria, 29, who has 58 Test caps for Pakistan, last Monday, three days after his return to England, but that was during Essex's County Championship match with Kent and the club asked if that could be deferred until yesterday. Every other Essex player, as well as the support staff, have been helping police with their inquiries.

Kaneria's performance in the match against Durham is not under scrutiny, but he is thought to have introduced Westfield, whose performance against Durham is under the microscope, to an illegal bookmaker.

Westfield, 22, has been interviewed before by police, who confiscated his mobile phone. He conceded 60 runs in seven overs in the 40-over match against Durham, with four wides and two no-balls.

While bad bowling is not proof of guilt, spot-fixing, whereby a small event in the game is fixed, such as a wide or a dropped catch, is thought to be the vehicle favoured by India's illegal bookmakers to manipulate bets, in which millions of pounds are staked on the smallest shifts within a match, to their advantage.

That way they can also involve vulnerable individuals on the margin of the team rather than the key players (needed if a result is to be fixed) - which makes it both less detectable and more cost effective.

Essex police confirmed that their investigation, which began in March this year, followed allegations received. As these allegations are thought to have come from other players, it has made for an uncomfortable dressing room this season.

The employment situation from the club's point of view is equally tricky unless guilt is proven. Yet, with both Kaneria and Westfield's contracts up for renewal at the end of this season, it may not be long before we see how their club has judged them.

Match fixing common in ICL, says former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif

LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has been told that "a large number" of matches in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) were fixed.

"I've personally been told by some ICL players that a large number of matches in that league were definitely fixed," Latif said in an email to Reuters.

"Even in the IPL (Indian Premier League), every now and again you watch a match and feel that there is something odd happening."

The governing body of Indian cricket dismissed Latif's allegations on Thursday when made aware of them by Reuters.

"BCCI rubbishes these allegations. We will not even react to this sort of allegation, It is totally rubbish," N. Srinivasan, Secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said.


OUTSPOKEN CAMPAIGN

The unofficial ICL included a Twenty20 World Series tournament comprising mostly former international players.

Unlike the lucrative IPL Twenty20 series, it was not sanctioned by the International Cricket Council and most of its players were banned by their national boards.

The 2008-09 World Series was abandoned after the attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 and there have been no matches since.

Latif, 41, played 37 tests for Pakistan between 1992 and 2003 but is better known for his outspoken campaign against corruption in cricket.

He gave evidence to the inquiry held by Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum into match-fixing after which Pakistan captain Salim Malik was banned for life in 2000.

Two other international captains, South Africa's Hansie Cronje and India's Mohammed Azharuddin, were also banned for life for match-fixing.

Latif said the amount of money available in Twenty20 cricket was damaging the game.

"There also is a worry that players are being paid so much, situations may arise where ultimately the result doesn't matter to them," he said in Wednesday's e-mail.

"These are not clubs who have discovered them or groomed them, these are clubs that simply pay them a lot of money. There is little loyalty.

"There are so many games in an IPL season -- with more to come with new franchises -- that the number of dead, irrelevant games will increase and this is where bookies thrive.

"Who knows what their reach is? If the owner of a franchise is approached and promised good money for his team to lose an irrelevant game, he tells his players to lose the game and they don't care because they get paid huge amounts anyway.

"The stake is so high who would blow the whistle? In any case the IPL was resistant to the presence of the anti-corruption unit at the first season of the IPL. Why?

"Cricket has been damaged before when too much money has floated around the game and it can be damaged again.

"Ultimately, in this kind of environment, where controls are loose, regulation is weak, there is enough money floating about to make people weaker and prone to looking the other way, it is not so difficult to see the dangers that are present. It would be foolish not to see them."