The Sindh High court on Tuesday adjourned leg-spinner Danish Kaneria’s appeal against the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to refuse to select him due to allegations of spot-fixing.
The 30-year-old was not cleared to play internationally by an integrity committee of the PCB after failing to satisfy them over the spot-fixing case last year. Kaneria and fellow Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield were arrested last year on charges of spot-fixing during a Pro40 one-day match against Durham in 2009. Kaneria was later released without being charged but Westfield faces criminal proceedings. “The court has adjourned the hearing until August 18 after PCB legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi submitted a reply on the case,” said court orders after the hearing. Kaneria has not been selected since he was acrimoniously sent home from the middle of Pakistan’s tour of England in August last year. Two months later he was included in the team for a series against South Africa before being withdrawn. “PCB cannot select Kaneria in the team until and unless he gets clearance from the integrity committee,” PCB lawyer Rizvi told AFP. Pakistan play one Test, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches in Zimbabwe next month. “The court has ordered Kaneria to get another opinion from his British lawyer and submit it before the integrity committee and the matter will then be decided,” Rizvi said. The spinner, who has taken 261 wickets in 61 Tests, and 15 wickets in 18 one-day internationals, is still playing domestic cricket for Habib Bank. “I will obey the orders, but the delay is frustrating me as I want to play for my country, which is my right after being cleared by Essex police,” Kaneria told AFP. The PCB was forced by the International Cricket Council to form an integrity committee after a separate spot-fixing case in England last year ended in lengthy bans for Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.
