Suspect Bowling Actions – What is the road Ahead?

Suspect Bowling Actions – What is the road Ahead?: Cricket is a rare sport which has laws and not rules. And often the limits of these laws are tested. Chucking or bending your arm while bowling is not a new phenomenon but has come under the scanner in paramount proportions recently. Long it has been an affair devoid of the notice it deserves. One can not blame the authorities alone for the mess though. Earlier there hardly used to be a bowler who would try throwing deliveries rather than bowling with a straight-arm. And thus for the Governing bodies to deliberately witch hunt for illegal actions would have been unfair.

The situation these days though, is markedly different. Young bowlers and particularly spinners in trying to bowl fast, exceed the limitation allowed by the ICC to bend your arm to a certain extent. Now for all of you who might be wondering whether this rule existed in practice even when the 15 degree limitation was not there, you are right.

But to lend technical dimensions and professional specifications the 15-degree rule came into existence.

Muttiah Muralithran was the first prominent name to be ‘no balled’ by Darrell Hair because he thought Murali was exceeding the bending limits by some distance. He was however relieved of all such accusations when he got his action tested in the performance centre of Australia.

The Old Law

Law 24, Clause 3 of the Cricket rule book defines a fair delivery with respect to the arm:

A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler’s arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing.

But Tests conducted in England in 1993 showed that it was a practically impossible proposition for a bowler to not flex his arm to some degree. The ICC then set limits of bending at 10 degrees for fast bowlers, 7.5 degrees for medium pacers and 5 degrees for spinners.

However it was found that majority of the bowlers (including a few greats) who seemed to have perfectly clean actions were actually going beyond the set limits. This forced the ICC to further increase the permissible limit to 15 degrees and it stands at this currently.

What is chucking?

As with many cricket skills, bowling with a straight-arm is an unnatural act as any coach who has tried to teach it to young players can testify. Thanks to computer analysis we now know that all bowlers have a slight straightening (which is now legal in professional cricket up to 15 degrees), but it is when it is clear to the naked eye that problems occur.

Is there a problem?

Before we roll up our sleeves and start the process of correction, we need to ask if there is a problem at all. The famous example is Sri Lankan spinner Mularitharan. His hyper flexible shoulders and wrists combined with a bent arm certainly looks like chucking to the naked eye and the bowler was no balled for it infamously against the Aussies. He has undergone extensive computer model testing and despite what the eye thinks, his arm straightens well within the legal limit.

Thus not always can the human eye be relied upon. Optical illusions will surely beat its competence.

Also Read – The Shaded Bricks – 5 Unknown Laws of Cricket

Where people get it wrong

The part that some people get wrong is that they think that the bowler’s arm should not be bent beyond 15 degrees at the point of delivery. This is incorrect as the law clearly states that the arm should not straighten by an angle more than 15 degrees during the course of action of a delivery. This means that if at the point when your arm is at the level of your shoulder your arm is bent by 30 degrees and at the point of delivery if it is bent by 20 degrees, then you have only straightened your arm by 10 degrees and therefore it is a valid delivery.

Course correction

If you come across such a problem it needs to be nipped in the bud as soon as possible.

The only way to tell at lower levels is to rely on the judgement of the umpires. If a player is getting no balled his progress will stall and remedial work will be needed. It may be he or she is not chucking in the modern definition, but if it looks like it that is enough.

So how does a coach correct a technical error like this?

It’s much easier for young players to correct as they have not ingrained the habit on their muscle memory. However, whatever the age of the player, it is up to a good coach to take the action back to the root of the problem and build it back up again.

This process can take some time. While the bowler is rebuilding the action it’s vital they do not try and bowl at all in practice or games; doing that will only get the player back into previous habits.

Why the ICC thinks it is important to ban players

The ICC these days has taken a direct and uncompromising view on the issue of illegal bowling actions. David Richardson the CEO believes that it is important to instill good habits in young cricketers and exemplary penalties are a way to do that. Abiding to that principle the World Governing body is encouraging young off spinners to focus on their off spin rather than the ‘Doosra’ or the other one.

The world of Cricket got a taste of reality when it was revealed that the prolific Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal was bending his arm close to 40 degrees. This way all his wickets were nothing more than a bunch of comical mishappenings.

If the action is found to be illegal, what then?
The player will be suspended from bowling in international cricket immediately and a report of the test will be sent to the player’s home board. On receipt of the report, the board has the option of appealing the results to an ICC-appointed bowling review group (BRG) within 14 days. However, should the appeal fail, the BRG could impose a ban on the player for a period of time.

What if only one of a bowler’s deliveries is deemed to be illegal?

If testing shows that the bowler’s action is illegal only for a particular delivery, say the doosra, he will be banned from bowling just the doosra in international cricket until he corrects his action for this particular ball and has it passed as legal. If he is found to have bowled the doosra in an international game without having it reassessed first, he will be reported and suspended from bowling in internationals altogether.

What happens if the bowler’s action is found to be illegal a second time?
If the player is suspended a second time for an illegal action within two years of the first instance, the second suspension – from bowling in international cricket – shall last for a minimum of one year. He will be allowed to apply for reassessment only at the completion of the one year.