• Spot-fixing

No protest to Kaneria ban - PCB

Umar Farooq
June 23, 2012
Danish Kaneria is likely to find doors closed to him in Pakistan © AFP
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The Pakistan board is satisfied with the ECB's disciplinary hearing against Danish Kaneria and has no objection to the sanctions imposed on the legspinner, ESPNcricinfo has learned. The PCB's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi was present at the five-day hearing as an observer and had access to the charges and evidence against Kaneria, who was found guilty of corruption in relation to the spot-fixing case involving former Essex pace bowler Mervyn Westfield and subsequently banned for life from any cricket under the jurisdiction of the ECB.

The PCB is seeking a detailed judgment from the England board, which is expected next week, but it is understood that it will, in principle, stand by the ban imposed on Kaneria, who has already been barred from playing for Pakistan since 2010. Kaneria has continued to play domestic cricket in Pakistan but that is also likely to stop now.

Although his punishment was handed out by the ECB, the ICC's anti-corruption code states that decisions based on a domestic board's regulations should be upheld by boards around the world, including the PCB, which will now complete its own integrity committee hearing. Kaneria has said he will appeal against the ECB disciplinary panel's findings and has 28 days to do so.

Kaneria was also due to appear before the PCB's integrity committee but he had refused. "We asked Kaneria to discuss with the PCB about his case but he refused to co-operate so we let him on his own then," PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf said. "Pakistan cricket has suffered enough and we don't want to take any further chances. We have a strict zero tolerance against the corrupt element." The integrity committee is now expected to complete its hearing into the Kaneria issue.

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent

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