Suspect Bowling Action: West Indies vow to stand behind http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shane-Shillingford-c89689
West Indian cricketer Shane Shillingford becomes the latest off-spinner to have been reported for an illegal bowling action. The tall right-armer, who is touring http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 with the Test team, was reported
by on-field umpires and third umpire (Asad Rauf, Richard Kettleborough and Steve Davies) for chucking in the first Test match of the three-match series played at Galle.
In recent years, the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Johan-Botha-c67173, Saeed Ajmal, and Shoaib Malik amongst others have been reported for chucking.
The problem started when Pakistan’s best ever off-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saqlain-Mushtaq-c88743 started bowling the “Doosra”, the ball that turns away from the right-hander without any change in action of a right arm off-spin
bowler.
Whilst he had mastered the ball since his childhood and possessed clean action, bowlers around the world worked on incorporating the ball in their armoury and ended up straightening their arms to the extent
that they faced ICC’s wrath for chucking.
Most of the bowlers were cleared, yet had certain conditions under which they were allowed to flex their arm.
The governing body of the game allowed for an elbow bends of 15 degrees, and hence the likes of Muralitharan, Ajmal, and Botha were allowed to bowl while Shoaib Malik was barred from bowling the doosra.
Meanwhile, West Indian coach Otis Gibson has vowed to stand behind the leading spinner who gave an impressive performance against some of the best players of slow bowling at Galle.
"I had a very good chat with Shane and he understands what is going on, we are 100 percent behind Shane. The entire team is behind him and he knows he has our full support. Our job is to keep Shane focused
on the upcoming match and the series.
"From what we have been told, he can play and he comes into our thinking as normal, as we look ahead to the match. We are building towards doing well in the second Test, as we did in the first Test. As a
team we are looking forward to the upcoming match. Shane bowled very well for us in the last Test, and he's a key part of our bowling unit."
Shillingford, who had the Sri Lankans in a spin in the match where he captured 5 wickets, including 4 in the first innings, was reported by on-field umpires Steve Davis and Richard Kettleborough.
Besides the two off-field umpires, third umpire Asad Rauf and fourth umpire Tyron Wijewardene also questioned the legitimacy of his action.
The umpires' report is believed to have raised concerns over the straightening of Shillingford's arm during certain deliveries that he bowled during the Galle Test.
It is ironic that he has been reported in Sri Lanka as many in the cricketing world believe that the ICC went out of its way to bend its rules to legitimise the bowling action of the Sri Lankan spin wizard Muralitharan.
Muralitharan, who ended his Test career with a six-wicket haul in his last Test earlier in the year, claimed an astonishing tally of 800 wickets in the longest format of the game.
Former Indian spin great Bishan Bedi has called his action a joke and an insult to Test cricket; many like Bedi feel that the man from Kandy should have been barred from bowling in international cricket long ago.
It remains to be seen as to what action is taken against Shillingford; for the time being he has been given the leverage to represent http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in the Test series; however, the West Indian Cricket Board has to submit an independent
assessment of his action within 21 days.
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