Cricketer jailed after admitting spot fixing charges

Former Essex player Mervyn Westfield was jailed after he was found to have been paid £6,000 to bowl so that a specific number of runs would be chalked up in the first over of a match.

The Old Bailey heard that the 23-year-old was “targeted” by former Essex teammate and Pakistan international Danish Kaneria, who set up the deal.

The match concerned was a county cricket game between Durham and Essex in September 2009.

Passing sentence, Judge Anthony Morris told Westfield: “I am satisfied that you would have known from the outset that what was being offered was a corrupt payment and that you could and should have refused it.”

The judge said the person who made the corrupt payment had used the information to influence either a foreign legal betting market, or an illegal one here or overseas.

He added: “The criminality here is that, for financial gain, you betrayed the trust placed in you to play honestly and to the best of your ability.

“You were trusted to do so by other members of your team, your employers, the supporters of Essex County Cricket Club and the very many followers of the game throughout the world.

Westfield was on the verge of the squad, more susceptible for that reason

Mark Milliken-Smith QC

The payment came to light when another Essex player, Tony Palladino, went to Westfield’s Chelmsford flat in September 2009, where the bowler showed him “the most money he had ever seen”.

Westfield emptied a plastic bag of rolled-up £50 notes on to his bed, and said Mr Kaneria had told him a “friend” would pay him to concede a certain number of runs.

Mr Kaneria was allegedly himself due to receive £4,000 as part of the deal.

Fast bowler Westfield is the first English cricketer to be arrested and charged with spot fixing.

He pleaded guilty last month to one count of accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that would allow the scoring of runs.

He has received an interim suspension order from the England and Wales Cricket Board.

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

‘Inappropriate company’

The court heard that he was warned in 2008 by the ICC that he was keeping “highly inappropriate company” over his links with Indian bookmaker Arun Bhatia.

Mark Milliken-Smith QC, for Westfield, told the court: “It is clear, we submit, that Kaneria and his associates targeted Westfield.

“Westfield was on the verge of the squad, more susceptible for that reason. Less likely perhaps to be able to say no to the club’s international star, his future with the club uncertain.”

Essex police said there were no plans to interview Mr Kaneria again although the investigation would remain under review.

Detective Sergeant Paul Lopez said it was now a matter for the cricketing authorities to deal with.

He said: “It has always been notoriously difficult to convict sportsmen and women of spot fixing and corruption because it is so hard to prove that someone has underperformed.

“However we were able to prove that there was a conversation in which Westfield spoke of underperforming and that he had considerable sums of cash being deposited in his bank account.

“Westfield was an up-and-coming young cricketer who was predicted to have a bright future ahead of him but making the decision to cheat in return for cash may well have ruined his career.

Pakistani cricketers

In 2010 the News of the World ran a story alleging that fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir would deliberately bowl no balls at specific points in an over during a test match between Pakistan and England at Lords.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) banned Asif and Amir and a third player Salman Butt for terms of between five and 10 years .

In November 2011, Butt and Asif were found guilty by a London court on criminal charges relating to spot-fixing. Amir and cricket agent Mazhar Majeed had entered guilty pleas on the same charges. All four were given prison sentences.