An English county cricketer pleaded guilty on Thursday to a corruption charge linked to his bowling in a 40-over one-day game. Mervyn Westfield, 23, who played for Essex, admitted accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that would allow the scoring of runs, during a hearing at the Old Bailey in London. The court heard he had agreed to bowl his first over in a way that would let Durham score a set number of runs in the game in September 2009. Westfield will be sentenced on February 10 and was warned he will face a jail sentence. Judge Anthony Morris told Westfield: “I hold out no promises to you as to the eventual outcome of this case. “It’s open to the court in this case to pass an immediate custodial sentence.” Morris added the name of the other party involved in the deal would be known to cricket fans, but it was not revealed in court.
An international cricketer was arrested alongside Westfield but later released without charge. This case took place against the backdrop of Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer being jailed in Britain last year for their role in a ‘spot-fixing’ scandal in a Test match against England. Huge sums are bet on cricket matches, especially in the Indian sub-continent — the sport’s financial powerhouse but an area where gambling on cricket is generally illegal — because of the way incidents in matches, and results, can be manipulated. The court heard the seamer, who was released by Essex in 2010 “on cricketing grounds,” agreed to bowl the first over so that 12 runs could be scored, but only 10 were achieved.
Westfield conceded 60 runs from seven overs as Durham scored 276 for six, a target surpassed by Essex, who won by seven wickets with 19 balls to spare in the Pro40 game played in Chester-le-Street. Essex Police said Westfield was the first professional cricketer in England to face prosecution for his involvement in spot-fixing in a county match. “We are pleased that Mervyn Westfield, a young professional cricketer, has now admitted the charge,” said Detective Sergeant Paul Lopez of Essex Police. “And we hope that this sends a strong message to professional sportsmen and women around the country — if they intend to get involved in spot-fixing, or think that match-fixing is not a crime, then they need to think again.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board’s anti-corruption chief Chris Watts, formerly a detective with London’s Metropolitan Police, recently suggested the domestic game may be more vulnerable to malpractice because of its lower profile and the fact players involved are generally earning less than their international counterparts. But Angus Porter, the chief executive of England’s Professional Cricketers’ Association, told Britain’s Press Association: “Our view on it is that the world has moved on quite a long way since he (Westfield) committed those offences.
“We’ve invested a huge amount in educating players as to their responsibilities, but I think that none of us can be complacent.” As for suggestions the county game was particularly vulnerable, Porter added: “I’m not convinced that we know who the high-risk groups are. “There is no doubt that where there are threats of corruption they will be linked to gambling and that gambling will predominantly be on televised games. “International cricket certainly is a risk and I think domestic cricket is also a risk because some games are televised on the Indian sub-continent so I suppose those specific matches are the ones we need to worry about.” Porter added the PCA had advised Westfield. “We did offer him advice in the early days and one thing that was important, given that that case involved a number of people in the Essex dressing room, was to make sure he had independent legal advice and we helped him to source that,” he said.
Hussain wants Westfield role in anti-fixing fight
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has urged officials to give Meryvn Westfield a role in the battle against corruption in cricket after the bowler admitted a criminal spot-fixing charge in court. Westfield, 23, pleaded guilty at London’s Old Bailey on Thursday to accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that would allow the scoring of runs while playing for Essex in a county 40-over match against Durham in September 2009. He is due to be sentenced on February 10, when the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are expected to comment publicly on the case and announce if they are imposing any sporting sanctions on Westfield, released by Essex in 2010 “on cricketing grounds”. But Hussain said that whatever happened to Westfield, there should be a role for him in educating up and coming players about the dangers of getting involved in fixing. “(The ECB should) use him, take him around to counties, do a video with him. (They should) use him as an example for future generations of cricketers that if you do get a call in your room saying ‘bowl a bad over and we will give you £6,000’, this is what happens to you,” Hussain told Sky Sports on Wednesday. “Instead of just parking him away somewhere to be forgotten, try to use the lad to make sure future generations don’t make the same mistakes as he has made,” insisted Hussain, who spent his entire county career with Essex. “You can’t take your eye off the ball with this. (Westfield’s admission of guilt) is what the game needs — Mervyn Westfield would have been about 21 when he decided to bowl that over and take that cash. “You can do that and then two years later down the line these things come back to bite you and haunt you. Mervyn Westfield is the best (example) to show young players and say ‘Is it really worth it?’. Hussain added Westfield was highly thought of as a bowler. “He was a very good cricketer, there were rumours still that if he beat this case some other counties were going to come in for him, he was a real prospect. “This will have been in his blood and now cricket has been taken out of his lifestyle through what he did. It’s a harsh lesson that he has learned.”