This is the little-known face of the cheat who could bring
cricket to its knees. Essex paceman Mervyn Westfield faces jail after becoming
the first Englishman convicted of match-fixing.
He will be sentenced on 10 February but – with three
Pakistani cricketers jailed in England last year over similar charges – the
23-year-old is expected to name further fixers in the game as he bids to get
his sentence reduced.
Westfield was warned by Judge Anthony Morris: “Mr Westfield,
I hold out no promises but it is open to the court to pass an immediate
custodial sentence.”
Morris also promised to name the “well-known” cricketing
character who paid Westfield. The ECB announced an amnesty on match-fixers last
Friday in an attempt to get further corruption out in the open – but Cricket
South Africa refused to accept the need for something similar in this country
despite the shadow of the late Hansie Cronjé’s match-fixing, exposed in 2000.
One CSA spokesman told Scoop! last Friday: “Nobody in South
Africa is under suspicion.” But Herschelle Gibbs, who admitted to trying to fix
an innings in India in 2000 and still plays for the Cobras, received only a
six-month ban from cricket.
Westfield, once considered a Test contender, effectively
threw his career away for £6 000 (R72 000) when he promised to allow 12 runs to
be scored off the first over of a Pro40 match against Durham in September 2009.
Though he bowled a wide, only 10 runs were conceded.
Westfield’s legal team argued their client had not gone through with the fix, but
the judge said he found it “difficult to accept”that he would not have been
paid.
The game was broadcast live on Sky across India and
Pakistan, making it eminently fixable. Westfield conceded 60 runs from his
seven overs but Essex went on to win by seven wickets.
Born in Romford near London, Westfield boasted about his
ill-gotten earnings to col¬leagues, who blew the whistle.
Westfield’s conviction is a huge embarrassment for English
cricket, coming three months after Pakistan stars Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif
and Mohammad Amir were jailed for spot-fixing.
This story first appeared in Scoop! South Africa's new
Sunday tabloid. See www.scoopnews.co.za
