Pakistan bowler named in fixing plot

LONDON (AP):A judge sentencing an English cricketer to jail yesterday accused Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria of pressuring teammates at county side Essex to fix matches.

Kaneria was cleared by police of wrongdoing, but the British judge was critical of his role in bowler Mervyn Westfield becoming the first English cricketer to be jailed for on-field corruption.

"Kaneria told you of the possibility of your making large amounts of money for conceding a certain number of runs in a particular over bowled by you in a match," judge Anthony Morris said. "I accept that such an approach was made to you by Kaneria."

2008 warning

Kaneria was warned in 2008 by the International Cricket Council over his connections with a bookmaker involved in illegal betting markets.

"In addition, he had made similar approaches to other Essex players who had laughed them off as a joke," Morris said at the Old Bailey in London. "At first you (Westfield) ignored Kaneria's approach, but similar approaches were made to you on a number of occasions after that until you felt under some pressure to agree."

The 23-year-old Westfield, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to four months in prison and suspended by the English and Wales Cricket Board.

The plot which developed after a meeting at Kaneria's home in August 2009 led to Westfield accepting £6,000 to intentionally concede runs during a 40-over English county match against Durham the following month, which was televised globally.

Kaneria was to receive £4,000 for facilitating the fixing, the judge said Westfield told former teammate Tony Palladino.

The 31-year-old Kaneria, Pakistan's most successful Test spinner with 261 wickets in 61 matches, has been suspended by the Pakistan Cricket Board since 2010. He continues to protest his innocence.

Such allegations have no strength and it holds no water, lawyer Farogh Naseem told The Associated Press by telephone. ÒI fail to understand when British police cleared Danish, when ICC cleared Danish, then why now these allegations against him?Ó

Kaneria, who first joined Essex in 2005, was arrested in connection with the case but later released without charge.

Westfield is the fourth cricketer in four months to be sent to a British jail for fixing. Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were jailed in November for fixing part of a test match against England in 2010.

The International Cricket Council hopes the jail sentence will serve as a Òdeterrent to anyone who is tempted to sully the good name of cricket.

We will follow every possible avenue to ensure the integrity of cricket is protected, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said.