PCA Welcome the return of Mervyn Westfield The Professional Cricketers’ Association has welcomed the decision of an England and Wales Cricket Board review panel to allow Mervyn Westfield to play Minor Counties and county Second XI cricket this season. Westfield was suspended from all county cricket for five years and jailed for his involvement in spot-fixing in a match against Durham in September 2009. Over the last three years Westfield has worked closely with the PCA to educate players both here and in South Africa about the dangers of corruption in cricket. Although Westfield will remain suspended from first-class cricket until February 17 2017 the terms of his initial suspension have been varied to allow him to play in Minor Counties and county Second XI cricket as from yesterday (February 17 2016). “This is really good news for Mervyn and is recognition for his ongoing commitment to raise awareness and educate in this most important area,” said Jason Ratcliffe, PCA Assistant Chief Executive. ” Whilst his overall ban of playing first class-cricket hasn’t reduced, he has one final chance over the summer to see whether he can achieve his ambition of playing first-class cricket again.” The ECB decision follows an appeal by the PCA on behalf of Westfield whose five year suspension was imposed in 2012. The ECB Cricket Discipline Commission ruled that Westfield must continue to serve the remainder of his five year ban from first-class county cricket because strong deterrent sentences continue to play an important role in the wider fight against corruption in cricket. But it agreed to vary his sentence to allow him to play at a lower level after acknowledging the important contribution he has made to joint ECB and PCA anti-corruption initiatives, including a recent trip to South Africa to support a player education programme. Gerard Elias, chairman of the CDC, said: The panel concluded that Mr Westfield has made a real and substantial effort in this area which reflects his continuing remorse and a genuine desire on his part to repay cricket for the harm caused by his actions in 2009. ” In these exceptional circumstances, we shall allow him to participate in Minor Counties cricket and first-class county Second XI cricket from February 17 2016. However, he will not be able to participate in first team cricket for any first-class county club until his original sentence expires on February 16 2017.” {{ak_sharing}}
