Pakistani leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was found guilty of spot-fixing while playing for Essex in county cricket, having encouraged teammate Mervyn Westfield to underperform in exchange for payment.
Danish Kaneria, Pakistan's highest wicket-taking spinner in Test cricket with 261 wickets in 61 Tests, was found guilty by an ECB disciplinary panel of being involved in spot-fixing while playing as an overseas professional for Essex County Cricket Club in 2009.
The scandal centered on a Pro40 match between Essex and Durham in September 2009. Kaneria had persuaded his Essex teammate Mervyn Westfield to deliberately concede runs in his opening spell in exchange for $6,000 from a bookmaker. Westfield was caught and in 2012 pleaded guilty to accepting a corrupt payment, receiving a four-month prison sentence.
Westfield initially protected Kaneria but eventually turned evidence against him. The ECB disciplinary panel found Kaneria guilty on two charges: being involved in fixing and inducing Westfield into the fix. Kaneria was banned for life from English cricket. The PCB subsequently banned him from all cricket in Pakistan as well.
Kaneria has consistently denied any involvement in fixing and has appealed his ban multiple times, all unsuccessfully. The case highlighted how corruption could permeate even domestic county cricket, and how overseas professionals could bring fixing networks into leagues far from the usual centers of corruption.
Kaneria banned for life by ECB and PCB. Westfield received four-month prison sentence and five-year ban.
Cricket Canada
12 May 2026
ICC suspended six months of funding to Cricket Canada over governance failures and financial misreporting — 63% of their total revenue.
Multiple franchises
8 May 2026
The IPL's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) submitted a formal report to the BCCI in May 2026 flagging "certain anomalies" observed across the league stage: unauthorised persons had been seen in the team dugout, on the team bus, and at team hotels during IPL matches in apparent breach of anti-corruption Standard Operating Procedures. IPL chairman Arun Dhumal confirmed the report publicly and warned that "very stringent action" would be taken if violations continued. Separately, the BCCI tightened protocols after reports that certain franchise owners had been seen mingling with players in restricted areas — a specific interaction prohibited under the anti-corruption framework.
Various county sides
1865-08-01
Despite MCC's attempts to reduce gambling on cricket through the 1840s and 1850s, county cricket in the 1860s still operated in a culture where betting was widespread and where allegations of arranged results circulated freely among those closest to the game. Several county fixtures of the decade generated suspicion among contemporaries that the outcome had been agreed in advance, though the absence of formal investigation meant that no players were ever charged.