The sentencing of former county cricketer Mervyn Westfield for spot-fixing has been delayed by a week.

The 23-year-old was due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, but the hearing was adjourned until next February 17.

Mark Milliken-Smith QC, for Westfield, said "administrative matters" had arisen and more time was needed.

Westfield pleaded guilty last month to taking £6,000 to bowl so that a certain number of runs were scored in the first over of a match between Durham and Essex in September 2009.

The aim was to ensure that 12 runs would be scored in the first over of the NatWest Pro 40 game, although in fact only 10 were chalked up. Westfield entered a guilty plea to one count of accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that would allow the scoring of runs on January 12.

A separate charge of assisting another person to cheat at gambling was ordered to lie on file.

Later that day the England and Wales Cricket Board launched a "reporting window" to encourage players and officials to come forward with information about corruption. The amnesty allowed them to report past approaches without fear of punishment. It is normally against ECB regulations not to report alleged corruption in the game.

Westfield, of Chelmsford, Essex, is currently on bail.

The case follows a separate trial in which three Pakistani cricketers were imprisoned for their roles in a match-fixing scam.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were all sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in November for a plan to bowl deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test against England the previous summer.

PA Sport