Kaneria comes clean on spot-fixing six years after receiving life ban
● Fomer Pakistan spinner admits he’s ‘lived life with lies’
Danish Kaneria has finally admitted his role in a spot-fixing scandal, six years after the offence which saw his Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield imprisoned and the Pakistan spinner issued with a lifetime ban.
Westfield served half of a four-month prison sentence for accepting £6,000 from an illegal bookmaker for an offence in a game with Durham in 2009.
It was Kaneria, pictured, who introduced Westfield to the bookmaker. Westfield was later banned from professional cricket for five years by the England and Wales Cricket Board, who imposed a life ban on Kaneria.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Kaneria said: “My name is Danish Kaneria and I admit that I was guilty of the two charges brought against me by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2012.
“I have become strong enough to make this decision because you cannot live a life with lies. It’s been six years. I
0 Pakistan’s Azhar Ali leaves the field after his comical run-out against Australia in Abu Dhabi
lost my friends ... respect from the fans. I lost everything.”
The 37-year-old describes the episode as “the biggest mistake of my life... I regret it from the bottom of my heart” and apologised to Westfield, his Essex team-mates, the club, Pakistan and cricket supporters around the world.
He also pleaded with the ECB and International Cricket Council for his ban to be lifted.
“I want to ask for people’s forgiveness,”
he added. “Cricket has given me so much in my life and I want to give something back.
“If the ECB and ICC and other bodies would give me a second chance,
I can help to educate young people in cricket, teach them that if you do wrong, you are finished, like me.”
Westfield accepted Kaneria’s apology. He told the Daily
Mail: “This whole chapter of spot-fixing changed my life, but I have never blamed anyone for the terrible mistake I made. However, opening up about my wrongdoing and telling the truth allowed me to move on.
“I hope that Danish finds peace and closure by doing this, and I wish him all the best for the future.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan inched closer to wrapping up a Test series victory over Australia on a day where Azhar Ali’s bizarre run out and Babar Azam’s 99 hogged the headlines in Abu Dhabi.
The tourists closed on 47 for one at the end of an eventful day three of the second and final Test after being set a world record victory target of 538, with Pakistan declaring their second innings on 400 for nine.
Babar top scored but despairingly fell one run short of a maiden Test century while Azhar’s comical dismissal set tongues wagging on social media.
Azhar would have been eyeing a 15th Test hundred on Thursday morning but was left bemused in the ninth over of the day when he was given out for 64, moments after thinking he had dispatched Peter Siddle for four.
However, the thick outside edge past gully had actually stopped just a couple of feet short of the boundary rope, unbeknown to either Azhar or his batting partner Asad Shafiq.
Australia were alert to the situation though and, as the Pakistan batsmen were chatting mid-pitch, Mitchell Starc’s throw led to captain Tim Paine whipping off the bails before either Azhar or Shafiq could grasp what was unfolding.