Pakistani former leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has filed an appeal against his life ban imposed by the English cricket board for spot-fixing, his lawyer said Thursday. The 31-year-old was banned from all cricket by a disciplinary committee of the ECB last month after being found guilty of luring Essex teammate Mervyn Westfield to underperform in a 2009 county match. Westfield was jailed in February after admitting he had accepted 6,000 pounds ($9,350) to play poorly during a Pro40 match between Essex and Durham in 2009. He had named Kaneria as the link between bookmakers and players. Kaneria had pleaded his innocence and vowed to appeal. Farogh Naseem, part of Kaneria’s legal team, told reporters the leg-spinner had filed his appeal late Wednesday and that there was “no evidence” against his client. The Pakistan Cricket Board has endorsed the ban, saying the player will remain suspended pending his appeal. Under International Cricket Council rules, sanctions from any ICC country against a player apply in all the rest of its members. The game’s governing body says the rules are in place “to stamp out corruption”. Kaneria took 261 wickets in 61 Tests — the most by a Pakistani spinner in all Tests — but has not played in international cricket since the tour of England in 2010, which was riven by newspaper revelations of on-field graft.
