Kaneria appeal 'totally without merit'

Kaneria appeal 'totally without merit'
ESPNcricinfo staff
August 12, 2014




An application by Danish Kaneria to have his life ban imposed by the ECB overturned has been dismissed as "totally without merit" by the UK's Court of Appeal.

Kaneria was banned for life by the ECB in 2012 in relation to the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing case. The suspension is applicable globally under any board affiliated to the ICC, although Kaneria, who has repeatedly denied involvement in corruption, has played T20 cricket in the USA.

In May, Kaneria appealed to the UK Commercial Court and was rejected and today a judge in the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, the Rt Hon Sir Stanley Burnton, threw out Kaneria's latest attempt to have his ban overturned.

He also ruled that Kaneria could not request this decision to be reconsidered and an ECB statement said that "Kaneria has exhausted all the legal options available to him to appeal a life ban imposed for his role in spot-fixing while playing for Essex."

However, ESPNcricinfo understands that Kaneria is still considering other options - possibly involving the European Courts or the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) - although his long-running appeals have been extremely costly and he may not be able to fund any further attempts even if they exist.

An appeal under the ECB's regulations was unsuccessful last year but Kaneria continued to pursue the case through the Commercial Court, a subdivision of the High Court that deals with business disputes. Costs of £100,000 imposed upon Kaneria were also upheld b

Even the Pakistani board is not backing its player. there have always been rumors regarding Kaneria's involvement in match fixing both in the domestic circuit as well as the English County circuit. This seems like a desperate attempt to clear his name so that he can continue to make money off the game. I hope he does not succeed like some of the players convicted in the past.