The Sunday Mail
MALCOM WALLER, the Zimbabwe part-time off-spinner, has become the latest bowler to be pulled up by the ICC for a suspect bowling action.
Waller will now have to undergo testing within 21 days, and can continue to bowl in international cricket until the results of the tests are announced.
Waller was reported during the second Test against Bangladesh, during which he took six wickets.
“The match officials’ report, which was handed over to the Zimbabwe team manager, Mufaro Chiturumani, after the Test concluded on Friday, cited concerns about the legality of the 30-year-old’s bowling action,” an ICC release said.
The ICC has been increasingly vigilant about dodgy bowling actions this year, with bans being handed to high-profile players like Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal. Waller’s team-mate, Prosper Utseya, was also reported three months ago and was suspended from bowling in October.
The ICC crackdown has hit off-spinners the hardest: besides Ajmal and Utseya, Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake, Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi, West Indies’ Shane Shillingford and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson have also faced scrutiny over their action.
What next?
The following section of the ICC regulations sets out the course of action for a bowler who has been reported for suspect action:
2.4 Re-assessment of Player’s bowling action
2.4.1
A Player who has been suspended from bowling in International Cricket under these Regulations shall be permitted under the supervision and with the consent of his Home Board to continue to play domestic cricket.
2.4.2
Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2.4.5 and paragraph 2.5 below, a Player who has been suspended from bowling in International Cricket under these Regulations, may at any time apply to the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action.
2.4.3
Such re-assessment shall be carried out in the same manner as the Independent Analysis referred to in paragraph 2.2 above save that the purpose of the comparison between the re-assessed action and the action of the Player as employed in the Match in which he was reported shall be to determine the extent, if any, of the improvement to his bowling action.
2.4.4
In the event of such re-assessment concluding that the Player has remedied his bowling action and that his bowling action is no longer an Illegal Bowling Action the Player’s suspension shall be lifted and he shall be permitted to continue bowling in International Cricket forthwith.
2.4.5
The BRG (Bowling Review Group)shall have the discretion to specify a fixed period before the expiry of which the Player shall not be entitled to approach the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action in terms hereof. Such discretion shall only be exercised in the instance of a frivolous application for a BRG hearing and the maximum period so specified shall be 1 year.
2.4.6
The Independent Assessment resulting from the re-assessment will stand in the place of the original Independent Assessment, and the provisions of paragraphs 2.2.10, 2.2.11, 2.2.12 and 2.2.14 and paragraph 2.3 will apply in respect of it. — CricInfo/Sports Reporter.
