ICC supports Sri Lanka Cricket action on Muralitharan

The International Cricket Council today announced that it supports the decision of Sri Lanka Cricket to instruct Muttiah Muralitharan not to bowl his "doosra" delivery.

ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said that after being forwarded a copy of the Sri Lankan Cricket report compiled by the University of Western Australia, the ICC had discussed the report's finding that this delivery was in breach of the laws of the game with Sri Lanka Cricket.

"The report forwarded by Sri Lanka Cricket proves that the degree of straightening is well outside the ICC's specified levels of tolerance.

"In light of this finding, Sri Lanka Cricket has now advised the ICC that it has instructed Mr Muralitharan not to bowl this delivery in international cricket. The ICC supports this action.

"At the same time, the authors of the report expressed their opinions about the current regulations governing the levels of tolerance used to assess a bowler's action and Sri Lanka Cricket has advised the ICC that it will be seeking to have these regulations changed at the earliest opportunity."

The Western Australian University report showed an initial straightening of the arm of around 14 degrees which after some remedial work was reduced to 10 degrees. This compares to an allowable level of tolerance for spinners of five degrees under the ICC regulations.

Mr Speed said that he hoped that the action by Sri Lankan Cricket in recognising that the delivery did not comply with the ICC regulations would prevent Mr Muralitharan being reported again for this delivery.

Mr Muralitharan is currently within the six week Stage One phase of the ICC's bowling review process having been reported in Sri Lanka during the final Test against Australia.

During this phase Mr Muralitharan is required to undergo an assessment of his action and though it is open for umpires to "call" him on the field if his action does not conform to the laws of cricket, no second report can be made until this six week period is completed. This period expires at midnight on Thursday, 13 May 2004.

Should the bowler go against the wishes of his Board, bowl this delivery and subsequently be reported within 12 months of the initial report, the issue would progress to Stage Two of the ICC's process for dealing with bowlers with suspected illegal bowling actions.

This would result in this delivery being scrutinized by the ICC's own Bowling Review Group which has the power to impose a ban of 12 months on the bowler if his action is deemed illegal.

Mr Speed said that the way in which the report had been leaked into the media had created considerable confusion over the purpose of the levels of tolerance permitted when conducting a bio-mechanical analysis of a bowler's action.

"Unfortunately the contents of this report were leaked into the public domain and this has done nothing to assist the general understanding of the science necessary to properly scrutinize illegal actions at international level," said Mr Speed.

"The first point that must be recognised is that most bowlers straighten their arm during delivery.

"While in many cases, the level of straightening is imperceptible to the naked eye; scientific research has established the reality that straightening of the arm is likely because of the bio-mechanical forces at work during a bowling action.

"It is not a case of if bowlers straighten their arm but a case of at what level does this straightening become likely to give a bowler an unfair advantage over other bowlers.

"This is essentially what the levels of tolerance tell us.

"They provide a guide to be used in the bio-mechanical analysis of a bowler's action to establish at what level a bowler is going to get an unfair advantage.

"The levels were introduced after consultation with well-qualified experts in the field and are based on research into the actions of all types of bowlers - spinners, medium pacers and fast bowlers.

"The levels vary according to the style of bowler because different styles of bowlers will gain an advantage at different levels."

Mr Speed said that these regulations reflected the current level of understanding on this issue and that ICC is now well-advanced in its arrangements for further research into the actions of spin bowlers.

"The current regulations reflect the current levels of understanding.

"The ICC is well aware that the existing body of scientific knowledge in relation to spin bowlers would benefit from additional research and has previously announced that it will undertake this work.

"It will only be after this research is completed that the ICC will be in a position to know if there is a sufficiently strong fact-based argument to alter the levels of tolerance currently in place.

"Until this time, the ICC will continue to apply the levels of tolerance that are in place."

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