PCB wants clearance certificate from Kaneria

The PCB has asked Danish Kaneria to produce a 'clearance certificate' from Essex if the legspinner is to be cleared by the board's integrity committee and allowed to resume his international career.

Matters between Kaneria and the board's integrity committee had come to a deadlock in recent days; the integrity committee wanted a transcript of the police interview Kaneria gave during investigations into spot-fixing in a limited-overs county game. Kaneria was arrested before being released on bail and eventually discharged as police didn't file charges.

Another player, Mervyn Westfield, is due to face a trial and should the judge deem it necessary, Kaneria can still be called to court as part of the case. Kaneria and his lawyers insisted that the police transcripts were not available as the player's involvement in the case was over.

"We had asked for police transcripts but were told by Kaneria's lawyers that they weren't available," Tafazzul Rizvi, the PCB's legal advisor, told ESPNcricinfo. "We need something to judge what is happening there and what happened in the case, however, so we've now asked for a clearance certificate from Essex who were his employers in the UK at the time, in a case which took place in the UK."

When asked what content such a certificate should include, Rizvi said, "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?" Kaneria played for Essex for four seasons and picked up over 300 first-class wickets, but his contract was not renewed after last year.

"This is an integrity issue for us," Rizvi said. "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."

Kaneria was unavailable for comment, though he did confirm that he had received the communication from the PCB. He hasn't played a Test for Pakistan since last summer, even though he is the country's leading wicket-taking spinner. The issue came to a head last October, when he was prevented from travelling to the UAE to take part in the Test series against South Africa at the last minute by the PCB. He had initially been picked for the series.