UK court refuses to end ex-Pak spinner Kaneria's life ban

A Court of Appeals here has refused to end former Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria's life ban for spot-fixing.

The leg-spinner was banned in June 2012 after being found guilty of corruption while playing for Essex during a one-day match in 2009.

According to the BBC, Kaneria, 33, continues to maintain that the charges of spot fixing against him were wrong, but the court said that his appeal for an overturn the ban was "totally without merit".

Welcoming the court's ruling, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)chairman Giles Clarke was quoted, as saying that Kaneria, who has been accused of acting as a recruiter of potential 'spot-fixers' and used his seniority and international experience to target and corrupt a young and vulnerable player, had now exhausted all legal options available to him.

He said Kaneria needed to come clean about his involvement in these corrupt activities and needed to stop misleading Pakistan cricket fans and the wider public with his empty protestations of innocence.

Kaneria's Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield was jailed for four months after admitting a corruption charge relating to a 40-over game against Durham.

During Westfield's trial, Judge Anthony Morris said the scam had been orchestrated by Kaneria, who spent six seasons at Essex from 2004.

But Kaneria, who played 61 Tests and 18 one-day internationals for Pakistan between 2000 and 2010, was never charged by the police, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.