English county player found guilty of spot-fixing

London: A former English county cricketer pleaded guilty on Thursday to agreeing to take money to bowl badly in a televised match in 2009 in the latest “spot fixing” scandal to hit the sport. In November, a British court jailed three Pakistani players for fixing parts of a test in England in 2010 and this latest case will raise fresh concerns about connections between cricket and illegal gambling circles on the Indian sub-continent. Mervyn Westfield, who played for Essex, admitted agreeing to allow 12 runs to come off his opening over in a 40-over match against Durham in September 2009 in return for a 6,000 pound ($9,200) payment. In the event, only 10 runs were scored off the over. Judge Anthony Morris said that the name of the other party involved in the deal would be known to cricket fans, but it was not revealed in court, Britain’s Press Association news agency reported. The judge warned Westfield that he could be jailed when he is sentenced on 10 February. [caption id=“attachment_180872” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield in this file photo. Getty Images.”]  [/caption] The maximum sentence is seven years. Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt was jailed for 30 months last year for his part in their spot fixing scam, while his team mates Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir got one year and six months respectively. “It’s open to the court in this case to pass an immediate custodial sentence,” Morris told Westfield during a hearing at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court. EDUCATE PLAYERS Although it was a relatively low-key English county fixture, the game could have been seen by gamblers around the globe. “The fact that the game was on television is unlikely to be a coincidence,” said Angus Porter, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association. Porter said the PCA had worked hard to educate English players about the risk of corruption since the offence occurred. “We should not be complacent, we should not think it is a one-off but neither should we think it is endemic,” Porter told Reuters. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the case sent out a clear message to players and officials that spot fixing is “a criminal activity punishable in law”. “This case has clearly demonstrated that there can be no complacency with regard to the potential threat posed to all areas and levels of sport including our domestic game by corrupt activities,” the ECB said in a statement. “We will, of course, continue to do our utmost to ensure that cricket is free from any corrupt activity.” Some of Westfield’s fellow players told the authorities they had suspicions that he may have been deliberately bowling badly. Essex, the International Cricket Council, the ECB, and the UK Gambling Commission all helped the police to investigate the case. “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,” said Paul Lopez, a detective sergeant with Essex Police. Reuters