Life ban for cricket player
The cricket player Danish Kaneria of Pakistan. The England and Wales Cricket Board has banned from playing in England and Wales for life on charges of corruption.
(Photo courtesy of Flickr user paddynapper)
The Pakistani cricket player Danish Kaneria has been banned for life in playing the game in England and Wales after the England and Wales Cricket Board found him guilty of corruption.
Kaneria, according to a report from the BBC, was found guilty of encouraging a team mate he formally played with in Essex, Mervyn Westfield, to fix matches. The International Cricket Council, which oversees the sport’s operations and matches around the world, has said that it hopes to make Kaneria’s ban effective worldwide. “I will ask the board to remind all members to put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the sanctions imposed on both players in this case are appropriately recognised and respected outside of the ECB’s domestic jurisdiction,” said Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, according to the BBC.
The Cricket Board panel who convicted him said he was a danger to the game. “Kaneria has made no admission, has shown no remorse and sought to cast blame on other plainly innocent persons,” the panel said in their report according to the BBC. “We regard him as a grave danger to the game of cricket and we must take every appropriate step to protect our game from his corrupt activities. Self evidently, corruption, specifically spot-fixing, in cricket or any other sport for that matter, is a cancer that eats at the health and very existence of the game.”
Kaneria has maintained his innocence. Speaking to the UK outlet Sky Sports, Kaneria said he would appeal. “I’m very upset about this decision. They don’t have any proof against me,” Kaneria said. “I’m an honest man. I’ve been playing cricket with passion and love. I have done nothing wrong.”