'New throwing law will be easier to apply' - Mani

Ehsan Mani, the president of the International Cricket Council, has said that the proposed throwing rules would be fairer as well as easier to apply. He added that the old limits were not foolproof as they had been set without any scientific evidence. This statement came in after a number of cricketers, both current and former, had raised severe objections to the change in the law, allowing all bowlers a 15 degree limit to flex their arms.

"What we are trying to do is to come to a system which is fair," Mani told Reuters. "Once we put the criteria in place no-one can breach it. Our cricket committee has recommended 15 degree tolerance-limit for all bowlers because bio-mechanics have told us that if the bowling arm is bent less than 15 degrees the human eye cannot detect it."

Mani also elaborated on the procedure that will be followed if a bowler's action is found suspect. "What we are looking at, at the moment, is a two-stage process. If a bowler gets reported, his home board takes over the process. He has six weeks to correct his action during which he can play and once the home board feels he is OK, he can continue without worrying about his action.

"The minute a bowler is reported, his action will be analysed in a laboratory and if the experiments show that he is going beyond the level of tolerance, the ICC will step in immediately and testing will be done under our supervision at 15 degrees. And it has to be done in four weeks."

The current set of rules allow varying degrees of flexing for different types of bowlers with fast bowlers, medium pacers and spinners having limits of 10, 7.5 and 5 degrees respectively. Regarding the new rule, Mani said, "In lab conditions if it is shown that straightening of the arm is more than 15 degrees, he [the bowler] will not be allowed to play."

Mani was asked about Muttiah Muralitharan, whose career has been dogged by allegations of throwing. "His action is so quick that the speed at which his arm comes down is quicker than most fast bowlers. We realised that some slow bowlers' arm actions were as quick as those of fast bowlers. So the question arose whether to treat them as fast bowlers or spinners. Instead of getting involved in that sort of discussion, we thought it better to have same level for everyone."

Mani also revealed that the ICC now planned to send the proposal back to the bowling review sub-committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club and request the panel to give their feedback on the relevance of the law. The committee will be headed by Tony Lewis, the former England captain.