Mervyn Westfield
Encyclopedia
Mervyn Simon Westfield is an English
cricket
er. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast
bowler who until September 2010 played for Essex County Cricket Club
.
against Durham
. He made one appearance in the Second XI Championship before the end of the season, and in 2006, played three matches as Essex reached third in Division Two of the 2006 County Championship
.
In May 2010 he was arrested by Essex police in connection with “match irregularities” in the 2009 domestic season, along with teammate Danish Kaneria
. The investigations are believed to focus on a NatWest Pro40 match in September 2009 against Durham
, which Essex won.
From 2006 onward, Westfield was an irregular feature in the Essex side. During the 2010 County Championship
, Westfield was released by Essex after struggling to find a regular place in the first team. Westfield has played as an upper-middle order batsman and as a tailender. He held a first-class
bowling average of 37.81 by the time of his release by Essex.
irregularity, it was announced on September 15, 2010 by the Crown Prosecution Service
that Westfield was to be formally charged with conspiracy to defraud over claims he deliberately bowled wides as part of a spot-fixing scam. Antony Swift, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Westfield would appear at City of London Magistrates' on September 23, 2010. His Essex teammate Danish Kaneria
was released without charge following the investigation.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast
Seam bowling
Seam bowling is a phrase used for a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation. Practitioners are known as seam bowlers or seamers....
bowler who until September 2010 played for Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
.
Essex career
Westfield played for the first time for Essex in the 2005 County ChampionshipCounty Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
against Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
. He made one appearance in the Second XI Championship before the end of the season, and in 2006, played three matches as Essex reached third in Division Two of the 2006 County Championship
2006 County Championship
The 2006 County Championship season, known as the Liverpool Victoria County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away...
.
In May 2010 he was arrested by Essex police in connection with “match irregularities” in the 2009 domestic season, along with teammate Danish Kaneria
Danish Kaneria
Danish Prabha Shanker Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer . Danish Kaneria has continued the tradition of great Pakistani leg spin bowlers and possesses a very well disguised googly...
. The investigations are believed to focus on a NatWest Pro40 match in September 2009 against Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
, which Essex won.
From 2006 onward, Westfield was an irregular feature in the Essex side. During the 2010 County Championship
2010 County Championship
The 2010 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 111th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away...
, Westfield was released by Essex after struggling to find a regular place in the first team. Westfield has played as an upper-middle order batsman and as a tailender. He held a first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
bowling average of 37.81 by the time of his release by Essex.
Spot-fixing charges
Following his arrest on suspicion of a spot-fixingSpot-fixing
Spot-fixing refers to illegal activity in a sport where a specific part of a game is fixed. Examples include something as minor as timing a no ball or wide delivery in cricket or timing the first throw-in or corner in association football. Spot-fixing attempts to defraud bookmakers illegally by...
irregularity, it was announced on September 15, 2010 by the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
that Westfield was to be formally charged with conspiracy to defraud over claims he deliberately bowled wides as part of a spot-fixing scam. Antony Swift, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Westfield would appear at City of London Magistrates' on September 23, 2010. His Essex teammate Danish Kaneria
Danish Kaneria
Danish Prabha Shanker Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer . Danish Kaneria has continued the tradition of great Pakistani leg spin bowlers and possesses a very well disguised googly...
was released without charge following the investigation.
External links
- Mervyn Westfield at CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...
- Mervyn Westfield at CricinfoCricinfoESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...