ECB find Kaneria guilty

Former Pakistan star Danish Kaneria has been found guilty of pressurising Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield into spot-fixing.

Westfield was sentenced to four months in prison after admitting accepting £6,000 to concede a certain number of runs in an over during a CB40 match between Essex and Durham back in 2009. But it was always thought that he did not act alone and an England and Wales Cricket Board disciplinary panel found the leg-spinner guilty on two charges. The first was of inducing and encouraging Westfield to under-perform against Durham, and the other was bringing the game into disrepute. Westfield pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving a reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute. A statement from the ECB read: "The ECB disciplinary panel today announced that Danish Kaneria has been found guilty of two charges under the ECB's regulations following a contested hearing which commenced in London on Monday, June 18. "Mervyn Westfield was also charged with one offence under the ECB's regulations to which he pleaded guilty. "The panel will now consider the appropriate sanction against both players and a decision is expected to be announced later today." The spot-fixing problem reared its head back in 2010 when Pakistan trio Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were arrested and subsequently jailed for their part in a plot to bowl deliberate no-balls against England at Lord's. All three are now out of prison and are appealing against their five-year playing ban.