The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently come down hard on those with suspect bowling actions; since December, 2013, as many as six bowlers have been reported.
And the suspension of Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal has stunned the cricketing world. Has the ICC — seen as being soft on ‘chuckers’ in the past — finally taken a stand?
There are, however, a few unanswered questions. If Ajmal’s flexion was close to or more than 40 degrees, as reported in some quarters, why was he not ‘called’ for ‘chucking’ since this far exceeded the 15-degree flexion rule?
“The umpires should have the authority to call. In Ajmal’s case, he has taken more than 300 Test and ODI wickets combined. What is the point in suspending him now? He has already changed the course of so many matches,” said off-spinning great Erapalli Prasanna to The Hindu .
However, a few others, such as Australian coach Darren Lehmann, have welcomed the ICC initiative. Some, like Indian batting great Rahul Dravid, have pointed out that chucking was not a crime.
Technology factor Has the advancement in technology actually forced the ICC not to soft-pedal the issue any more? These are days when television cameras capture a bowler’s action from various angles. Suspect actions have become too obvious to ignore any more.
Illegal actions have enabled pacemen bowl quicker or gain awkward lift. Spinners have imparted greater revolutions on the ball, sent down mystery deliveries or bowled the faster ones with suspect actions.
Former West Indian spinner Sonny Ramadhin, who inflicted considerable damage in the 50s, confessed, “There was no way somebody of my build could have produced my faster ball without throwing it.” Since he bowled with full sleeves, the kink in his action was difficult to spot.
Illegal actions have always been an emotional and a contentious issue. Many believe ‘chucking’ was a response to the game becoming increasingly loaded in the batsman’s favour — flat pitches, better bats, smaller boundaries.
A physical deformity in the bowling arm has also been employed as a defence as in the case of Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.
But then, chucking is not a recent phenomenon and could have a lot to do with technical shortcomings. For instance, Australia’s Ian Meckiff was “called’ in 1963.
And it acquired a wholly new dimension when Muralitharan was ‘called’ seven times in three overs by umpire Darrell Hair during the 1995 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Some former players felt the ‘doosra,’ an off-spinner’s delivery spinning away from the right-hander, could not be possibly bowled legally.
In the ensuing years, the issue acquired political overtones. Muralitharan’s bowling action led to a rather acrimonious debate before the under-pressure ICC introduced the 15-degree flexion rule in 2004. Leg-spin legend Shane Warne expressed displeasure with the rule-change since he felt it would “create confusion.”
Focal point Experts, however, concluded that 15 degrees was the point where ‘chucking’ became visible to the naked eye. They used cameras shooting 250 frames per second to underline adduction and hyper-extension (bending and straightening of the arm).
Once reported, a bowler has to undergo testing on his action within 21 days at an ICC-accredited facility.
Sendile Sibeko, a bio-mechanist at the newly built centre at Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai, said: “A bowler’s action is assessed from every angle with a combination of retro-reflective sensors on the cricketer’s body and 3-D cameras with infra-red functions. The combination breaks down the images of a bowler’s action into different segments and feeds them to a computer.” The procedure is state-of-the-art and sophisticated.
The process of correcting an action has seen a paradigm shift since 2004. Asked about the process once a bowler is reported by the on-field umpires to the match referee, an international umpire said, “If umpires report a bowler, he is sent for remedial action and his action is analysed. ICC has many parameters based on which they send a comprehensive report. If it is contravening, then they send a directive to the umpires on what a bowler is doing.”
Not enough
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi felt the ICC was not doing enough.
“The ICC can’t take a stand because if it does, it stands the danger of treading on quite a few toes. They were scrutinising Ajmal after 21 days, why not immediately? I have never seen a chucker rectifying his bowling action.”
A very highly-placed ICC official sounded positive.
“Slowly, it’s gravitating towards a cleaner system. Nobody wants chuckers in the game. They get past the biomechanics. Under controlled conditions, they bowl within themselves. That’s one of the topics being discussed in the ICC.”
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What is chucking?
The laws of the game stipulate that a fair delivery is one in which the bowler’s ‘elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand.’
In 2004, the ICC assigned a 15-degree limit on flexion.
There has been greater awareness, at least in the cricketing circles, of the physical phenomenon of chucking thanks to the pronounced use of technology. Apart from the deliberate throwers, it is now known that nearly every bowler in the history of the game has involuntarily flexed and straightened his arm to some degree.
While it has considerably improved understanding of the issue, it has also made it difficult for umpires to ‘call’ a bowler with a suspect action. A ‘reported’ bowler undergoes testing and needs remedial action and clearance before returning to action again.
Prominent players called or reported
Tony Lock, Charlie Griffith, Ian Meckiff, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Harbhajan Singh,
Recent catch
December 2013: Shane Shillingford suspended from bowling, cleared in March 2014; Marlon Samuels banned from bowling quicker deliveries
July 2014: Sachithra Senanayake banned, undergoes remedial work. Kane Williamson banned after tests find his action to be illegal
August 2014: Saeed Ajmal reported, banned in September. Prosper Utseya reported, to undergo testing. Sohag Gazi reported, to be tested in Cardiff.
