Danish Kaneria to appeal lifetime ban
LONDON:
Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria said Friday he will appeal the
lifetime ban handed down to him by the England and Wales Cricket Board
(ECB) for his role in a spot-fixing scandal."I will definitely be doing an appeal. The people trust me. I'm an honest man. I've been playing cricket with passion and love. I have done nothing wrong," the 31-year-old told Sky Sports News.
Kaneria was given a life ban from English cricket on Friday for his involvement in the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing case.
Westfield was jailed for four months in February, but served two before being released in April, after admitting he accepted #6,000 ($9,346) to under-perform during a Pro40 match between Essex and Durham in 2009.
The now 24-year-old Westfield named Kaneria -- arrested with him in 2010 but released without charge -- as the link between bookmakers and players.
And an ECB panel disciplinary panel agreed Friday, saying: "We are left in no reasonable doubt that Danish Kaneria knowingly induced or encouraged Mervyn Westfield not to perform on his merits in the Durham match."
The panel said: "We regard Danish Kaneria as a grave danger to the game of cricket...Accordingly, we are unanimously of the view that the only appropriate sanction in relation to both charges is one of suspension for life and that is the sanction we impose."
In a damning indictment of 31-year-old Kaneria, the panel added his evidence "simply does not stand up to scrutiny and is plainly lies".
However, Kaneria, who has always maintained his innocence, said: "I'm very upset about this decision. For what reason they have convicted me I do not know.
"It is a very, very unfair decision against me. I've come all the way from Pakistan to say the truth.
"They (the ECB) don't have any proof against me. I don't know why they are saying this," he added after he, along with Westfield, was punished by a three-man panel chaired by lawyer Gerard Elias and featuring retired former England one-day international cricketer Jamie Dalrymple.
Westfield was given a five-year ban for bringing cricket into disrepute, a charge the seamer accepted, although he will be able to play club cricket in the final two years of his suspension. (AFP
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