ECB clearance not enough for Kaneria's return to Pak team: PCB

Karachi, May 6 (ANI): The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that even if leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is cleared of spot-fixing charges by the disciplinary committee of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), he will still have to get clearance from PCB's integrity committee, before being considered for national selection again.

"There is no automatic reprieve for Danish even if he is cleared by ECB's disciplinary committee at this month's hearing," the Daily Times quoted a senior PCB official, as saying.

Kaneria has been summoned by the ECB committee along with his former Essex teammate, Mervyn Westfield for a hearing on May 21. Both Kaneria and Westfield faces spot-fixing charges during a Pro-40 match involving Durham and Essex in September, 2009.

Westfield has already been sentenced by a crown court earlier this year when he confessed to taking 6000 pounds to bowl wides in the match. His lawyers named Kaneria as a go-between in the spot-fixing scandal, but the Pakistani bowler has vehemently denied the charges and pleaded his innocence.

Kaneria was questioned by the Essex police in 2010 over the Pro-40 match but was let off due to lack of evidence.

"The integrity committee wanted to discuss the ECB hearing with him," the official said, adding that Kaneria had been asked to appear before PCB's integrity committee but his lawyers had sent a letter stating that since he was preparing for the ECB hearing there was no point in appearing before the PCB at present. (ANI)