Court crunch for Kaneria (From Echo)

Court crunch for Kaneria

12:15pm Tuesday 5th July 2011 in Essex Cricket Club

FORMER Essex leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has taken his battle with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to court.

He has filed a petition at the Sindh High Court in Karachi against his continued non-clearance by the board’s integrity committee.

Kaneria has not been cleared for selection to Pakistan’s Test side since last October when, following the fall-out from the Lord’s spot-fixing scandal and his own entanglement in a corruption case in Essex, the PCB tightened up its anti-corruption programme.

Kaneria was questioned by police in relation to an investigation believed to centre around a Pro40 win against Durham and spot-betting on wides and no-balls during the match, but was not charged; former Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield has been charged in the same case.

Kaneria has since submitted communications from the International Cricket Council, Essex Police and Essex County Cricket Club indicating that he has been cleared, but the PCB has refused to accept the email from the county as the ‘clearance certificate’ it wants.

Until last year, Kaneria had been Pakistan’s leading spinner since 2003 and a near-permanent name in the Test side.