Published: Sep 09, 2014, 11:59 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 09, 2014, 12:45 PM (IST)
Sep 9, 2014
Pakistan‘s ace spinner Saeed Ajmal was on Tuesday suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The right-arm spinner was reported for suspected bowling action last month during the bilateral series against Sri Lanka.
According to a statement by ICC, “The International Cricket Council today [on Tuesday] confirmed that an independent analysis has found the bowling action of Pakistan’s off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to be illegal and, as such, the player has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect. The analysis revealed that all his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.” Complete coverage of Saeed Ajmal’s suspension here
“Saeed, who was reported after the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle last month, can apply a re-assessment after he has modified his bowling action in accordance with clause 2.4 of the Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions.”
“The analysis was performed on 25 August by the ICC’s accredited team of Human Movement Specialists using the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.”
The ban implies that Ajmal will not be available for Pakistan’s series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting next week.
According to PTI, the Pakistani cricket authorities were prepared for the worst possible scenario in the Ajmal’s bowling action case. “We have been told we will be informed about the findings of his bowling action tests conducted in Brisbane in seven to eight days,” the official told PTI. ”The Brisbane lab will first send the report to the ICC who will than as per protocol inform us,” he added.
The official conceded that the board was prepared for the worst possible scenario since it had now become clear that the ICC had decided to come down hard on bowlers with suspect action. ”The worst we are expecting is that Saeed may be stopped from playing and be told to remodel his bowling action. If that happens we anticipate it will take around 45 to 60 days for him to complete this process of remodelling his action and getting it cleared by the ICC,” he said.
