The Hindu : Sport : Chucking issue: ICC decision may help clear the air

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Sunday, Feb 06, 2005

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Chucking issue: ICC decision may help clear the air

By S. Dinakar

STRAIGHTENING THE BEND: The once-suspect bowling action of ace spinners, India's Harbhajan Singh and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, may now pass muster after the International Cricket Conference's announcement on Saturday that it would relax the r ules on chucking.

CHENNAI, FEB. 5. The decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to accept the recommendation of its panel to limit the level of flexion of arm to 15 degrees for all bowlers, pacemen and spinners, might help clear the air in an area of the game that has often roused passions.

The issue of `chucking' has been an emotional one and ICC's ruling, arrived at during an executive committee meeting in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday, could bring about a level of consistency while determining the legality of a delivery.

In recent years, several prominent bowlers, from Muttiah Muralitharan to Harbhajan Singh, to Shoaib Akhtar have come under the chucking cloud. While ICC's latest move might not be the perfect answer, it could, as ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, said, "provide the game with the best chance of solving the problem."

Independent body

Under the new system, that will come into effect from March 1, the action of a bowler reported for a suspect action, will be analysed by an independent body, appointed by the ICC, within 21 days of the submission of the report. This will replace the current six-week rule. If the bowler is not satisfied with the assessment of the panel, he can appeal to a bowling review group.

During the Champions Trophy in England last year several famous bowlers such as Australia's Glenn McGrath and South Africa's Shaun Pollock were seen to have straightened their arm on some occasions when their action was filmed by the latest cameras.

The issue of chucking had also come under the scanner after Sri Lankan off-spinner Muralitharan was reported by Match Referee Chris Broad t the conclusion of the Australia-Sri Lanka Test series in Sri Lanka last year.

Following a request from the Sri Lankan Cricket Board, which was directed by the ICC, Muralitharan's action was tested at the Biomechanics Laboratory of the School of Human Movement and Exercise Science of Western Australia in Perth.

After undergoing a process of technical remediation — bowling with an action that was more side-on and delivering from closer to the stumps — under renowned Australian cricket coach Daryl H. Foster, the straightening of the elbow of Muralitharan, while bowling the doosra, was measured at 10.2 degrees, which was still over five degrees above the then existing tolerance level for spinners.

In this context, the `Bowling Report — Muttiah Muralitharan' by Professor Bruce Elliott, Ms. Jacque Alderson, Ms. Siobhan Reid and Mr. Daryl Foster, published in The Hindu, dated May 7, 2004, is worth recalling.

Under the sub-heading, `Range of acceptability of elbow angles,' the report said, "The International Cricket Council (ICC) guidelines have been structured around fast bowling, so ranges of acceptability (10-degree — fast bowling, 5-degree — spin bowling) may in fact need to be modified for spin bowling. Portus et al (2003), the only published work in the area of changes of elbow angle during fast bowling, suggested the ICC range of acceptability should be increased to 15 degrees, if a large number of current fast bowlers are not to be subject to scrutiny and then remediation (none have been called for throwing)."

The report goes on: "The logic in reducing the margin for fast bowlers compared with spin bowlers is based on the lower speed delivery of this classification of bowler."

However, while zeroing in on the rotational speed of the Sri Lankan off-spinner's arm, it said "Mr. Muralitharan recorded a similar time (=0.08s) from arm horizontal to release, to that recorded by Shabbir Ahmed Khan, the Pakistan fast bowler recently tested by this team. Therefore a case can certainly be made for some spin bowlers, such as Mr. Muralitharan, to have the same range of acceptability in elbow angle to that of fast bowlers."

With its latest law on bowling action, the ICC has agreed with the above view.

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