ICC bowls out bowlers with suspect actions before WC

The banning of Pakistan's champion off spinner Saeed Ajmal by the International Cricket Council for bowling with an illegal action shocked the writer who is an admirer of the always smiling and mischievous looking Ajmal.

The International Cricket Council banned off spinner Saeed Ajmal, Pakistan's most prolific Test wicket-taker among active players, after biomechanic tests found all his deliveries broke the limit for straightening of the elbow joint.

The latest in a string of suspensions for internationals over their bowling actions, Ajmal's ban has fanned fears that 'chucking' is rife at the highest level of the game but it has also been applauded as a timely crackdown on a highly contentious and often elusive problem.

Banning came as a surprise

The banning of Ajmal came as a surprise because not so long ago he was plying his trade in England for his county Worcestershire, having most batsmen in a flat spin, bagging bags full of wickets but not one of the umpires saw anything funny in his bowling action.

Playing in the series against Sri Lanka was where the umpires saw the illegality in his action and reported him. He has been banned from bowling in international cricket, but can bowl in domestic cricket.

Funny. But this is not the first time that Ajmal had to face such ignominy. He had been reported before, only to get himself okayed after tests to continue the destruction of opposing batsmen with his mesmerizing two way spin.

But the ICC must be applauded for acting and acting right away in testing and banning the bowler, until he corrects his action, get clearance and continues playing.

Past cricketers get it wrong

But what was laughable is that there are some past cricketers here who opine that the ICC did wrong in banning the bowler because the World Cup is looming in Australia and New Zealand next February / March.

To say the least this is poor thinking and probably said to get publicity now that they have been confined to the limbo of the forgotten. What the past cricketers want the ICC to do is to allow 'chuckers' to continue bowling illegal deliveries, adding to the wickets tally they already have and bowl their teams to victory and this time round the 2015 World Cup. They should be given an award for POOR THINKING.

The ICC for once has shed their 'toothless tiger' image, shown that they have grown fangs and bitten hard and where it hurts. To allow those with illegal actions to continue would have been to prompt other countries not having 'chuckers' to spawn them.

Obviously these cricketers have forgotten the golden adage --- that it is not the winning or the losing that matters, but how one played the game. No wonder then that they have been bowled and have no place in Sri Lanka's development and progress of the game.

Ban taken in the right spirit

But the sport that they are, the Pakistan Cricket Board had taken the ban in the spirit it had been made and instead of appealing have quite rightly decided to put the bowler through the right channels and correct his action before next year's World Cup.

And the man they have entrusted this task is the man who initiated all the controversy former Pakistan off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq who gave the 'doosra' to the world and who also taught Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan how to toss the 'doosra' off which delivery Muralitheran bagged his record 800 Test wickets.

With around six months more to the World Cup, Ajmal should be okay come WC time. Whatever is finally said and done, it is hoped that Ajmal will not be altogether lost to the game. He was a treat to watch when searching for wickets. The 'doosra' especially was unplayable every time he struck a line and length and he fooled the best of batsmen forcing them to play the wrong line.

Even Australian coach Daren Lehmann has welcomed the InternationalCricket Council's decision to crackdown on suspect bowling actions saying it is good for the game. There will be a lot of cricket played in the coming months before the World Cup and ICC better watch out and suggests more support for match officials to identify illegal actions with confidence.

Lehmann in ICC Cricket Committee

Lehmann the former Australian left hander who served notice of being the next Neil Harvey, but failed to live up to that hope was recently nominated to the ICC Cricket Committee that has pushed for better method.

According to REUTERS the ICC is cautiously optimistic that wearable sensors can provide the technological breakthrough needed to stamp out illegal bowling actions but does not expect them to be ready for trial in matches before mid 2015.

Geoff Allardice, the International Cricket Council's general manager of cricket, had in an interview told REUTERS that there has been lots of progress in using the technology but stumbling blocks remain to deploying in matches.

The ICC has been working with Australian researches to developwearable 'inertial' sensors that can measure bowlers actions against the permissible limit for more two years. The programme has reached key milestones and is now in its third and final phase but challenges remain.

Fair bit of work to be done

'There's a fair bit of work to do before we're going to be able to use them in a match setting. The next stage is probably going to take 18 months to two years. You wouldn't expect it to be trialed in a match setting until mid 2015 at the earliest. But the science is encouraging', said Allardice.

The sensors, which are attached to the bowler's upper arm andforearm, have reached the point where they can successfully detect the moment when a ball is released in a delivery.

While that much is already useful in analysis, the sensors still lack the capability to measure the arm's straightness during the bowling arc, a key to determining the fine line between a legal action and chucking.

'At this stage we are looking to automatically detect the position of the arm at the release with some software that is receiving thesignals from the sensors... and have to capture that without any(competing) information'.

'If you are in a match situation, the mounting of the sensors of the arm has to be so that they don't shift position. If they do, then the calibration is disturbed', said Allardice a former first-class batsman n senior manager at Australia's Cricket Board.

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