PCB stops Kaneria from joining Test squad

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This could only mean Pakistan is not interested in playing any cricketer who has been involved or suspected of being in involved in match fixing. Why the U-turn in his selection now? This will leave many surprised.

PCB stops Kaneria from joining Test squad

Pakistan legspinner Danish Kaneria has been refused “clearance” by the PCB to join the Test squad for the series against South Africa in the UAE.

Kaneria was due to fly to Dubai early on Sunday morning as one of a group of five players but he was called by a board official just before he was due to leave for the airport and informed that he could not go. Mohammad Sami, Azhar Ali, Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Yousuf all left to join the squad.

“Danish has not been given clearance by the board,” Zakir Khan, the PCB’s director of cricket international, told ESPNcricinfo. No other reason was given. Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, and other officials were unavailable for comment.

The last-minute development is bound to fuel speculation over the reasons of the sudden u-turn. Kaneria was selected in the original squad announced in October and, as chief selector Mohsin Khan repeatedly stressed that no player will be selected unless he was cleared by the chairman, it must be assumed that Kaneria was cleared initially.

Kaneria was also part of the training camp the team had before the departure for the UAE. He has since played in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy as well, taking 18 wickets in two games for Habib Bank Limited. He last played for Pakistan in the Trent Bridge Test against England in August, after which he was dropped. Kaneria had played 61 Tests and is the country’s most successful spinner with 261 wickets.

It is not clear whether the decision has anything to do with the PCB’s attempts - compelled by the ICC’s warning last month - to put its house in order and tighten up against corruption. Kaneria was the subject of a criminal investigation through the summer by Essex police over allegations that he was involved in spot-fixing during a county game. The investigations had begun in May but Kaneria was cleared by police in September.

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricin

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Re: PCB stops Kaneria from joining Test squad

another pathetic decision by PCB

kaneria was performing in the QA trophy as well
and plus he is the highest wicket taker for Pakistan in test currently

the pitches would have suited him also

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Re: PCB stops Kaneria from joining Test squad

PCB read (Pakhratu Chamaar board) won’t accept Kaneria’s response…so he is caught in a rock and a hard place - no where to go but down…

Kaneria’s email fails to satisfy integrity committee
Osman Samiuddin
May 17, 2011

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Danish Kaneria’s efforts to gain clearance from the PCB’s integrity committee continue © Getty Images

Danish Kaneria’s exclusion from the national team looks set to continue for a while yet, after the PCB has said the communication the legspinner sent the board from his former employers Essex “failed to satisfy requirements” of the integrity committee.

The PCB had asked Kaneria to send them a certificate of clearance from Essex following his arrest by police and eventual release last summer in a spot-fixing case involving another player from the county. Earlier this week, Kaneria sent the board an email from Essex in which the club thanked him for his services and explained the reasons he was not being offered another contract. It was an email he had already submitted to the board late last year.

“We have responded to Kaneria,” PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarward told ESPNcricinfo. “The clearance letter he sent is something he sent to us six months ago and which we had. We sought legal opinion and confirmed with the ECB, and decided that the document failed to satisfy the requirements of the PCB. So Kaneria has been advised to provide a clearance certificate at the earliest.”

What exactly constitutes a “clearance certificate” is unclear: “We just want an idea of what Essex say about him and the case. They were his employers at the time. Will they consider him now?” is what the board’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi told ESPNcricinfo recently. Whether or not Essex will or can provide such a document is another matter altogether. Indications from board officials suggest that such a certificate may not arrive so readily, which leaves a question mark over Kaneria’s international future.

Kaneria, presently Pakistan’s leading Test wicket-taker, has not played internationals since last summer. He was selected as part of the squad to face South Africa in a series in the UAE in November 2010, but was prevented from travelling by the PCB at the last minute. The board said he had not been cleared by the integrity committee, newly-formed in the wake of the Lord’s spot-fixing scandal.

Since then, Kaneria has submitted various financial records and documents and appeared in front of the committee several times, but hasn’t managed to satisfy members. Until recently, the committee was asking him for transcripts of his questioning by police in the case, something Kaneria and his lawyers insisted they could not provide as it was part of an ongoing investigation in the UK.

“This is an integrity issue for us,” Rizvi had said nearly two weeks ago, when asking for the clearance certificate. “The committee is not just made up of board members or cricketers, it has an ex-judge of the Supreme Court on it and in their opinion, Kaneria had not satisfied them so he has not been cleared. We can’t take a risk, so we have asked for this clearance now.”

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of ESPNcricinfo

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http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/515605.html

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Re: PCB stops Kaneria from joining Test squad

If the police investigation is ongoing, how can he claim to have been cleared?

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Re: PCB stops Kaneria from joining Test squad

This is a right decision by the PCB.Why can't Kaneria fetch a clearabce from Essex his former `employer' and produce it?If they are not done with their investigation yet,Mr.Kaneria will have to wait. A fair decision by the P.C.B.