da 888casino： Former Indian Test spinner Bishen Bedi has reopenedcontroversy over Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action,comparing the Sri Lankan off-spinner’s bowling action to thatof a javelin thrower
CricInfo02-Feb-2002
Muralidelivers
Photo Reuters
Former Indian Test spinner Bishen Bedi has reopenedcontroversy over Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action,comparing the Sri Lankan off-spinner’s bowling action to thatof a javelin thrower.”If Murali doesn’t chuck, then show me how to bowl,” Bedi saidin the interview.”How can you call it bowling? He (Muralitharan) has no followthrough and he makes no use of his shoulders. “Murali’s armdoesn’t go up at all. I have a picture of him bowlingsomewhere. He looks like a good javelin thrower.”The legality of Muralitharan’s unique action has been thesource of great debate throughout his prolific career, whichhas seen him race to 400 Test wickets in record time.Like Bedi, Australian umpire Darrel Hair, who described hisaction as ‘diabolical’ in his autobiography, believes that hestraightens his arm and is therefore guilty of throwing.Muralitharan has been called for throwing on three separateoccasions, by three different umpires, but only in Australia,prompting accusations that his no balling was a cynicalnationalistic conspiracy designed to undermine Sri Lanka’smajor weapon.
Murali- cleared by ICC
Photo Colleen Briggs
The first time was in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne in 1995by Hair and that was followed shortly afterwards by his noballing by Ross Emerson and Tony Mcquillan in a one-day matchat Brisbane.With his career in jeopardy, Muralitharan’s bowling action wasanalysed by University of Western Australia and the Hong KongUniversity of Science and Technology. Both reports concludedhis action was legal.The University of Western Australia photographed Murali’saction at 1,000 frames per second from six different angles,concluding: `From certain angles he does look suspect but fromother angles there was not a problem.’ The `throwing’ was amere `optical illusion’, the report said.
Murali- 400+ Test wickets
Photo AFP
After a three and a half day high tech examination in HongKong, the university revealed that Muralitharan was physicallyincapable of fully extending his right arm and concluded thateven his partially bent arm did not straighten when he bowledoff-breaks or leg-breaks..An International Cricket Council (ICC) panel reviewed theevidence and cleared Muralitharan before the 1996 World Cup.Then, on Sri Lanka’s next tour to Australia in 1999, RossEmerson called Muralitharan once again in a one-day match atAdelaide, forcing captain Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his playersto the boundary edge in protest.Emerson was largely castigated by the media for his decision;taken whilst standing at the bowler’s end. One leading SriLankan commentator, Ranjith Fernando, accusing him of ‘playingGod.’No further investigation into his action followed, the ICCapparently satisfied with its legality, although some contendthey were simply too anxious to avoid further controversy.Since the recent introduction of a formal three-stage processfor analysing suspect actions, he has not been reported onceby an umpire in a Test or ODI.But Bedi, for one, is unconvinced, brushing aside hiscongenital deformity in his elbow as a legitimate explanationfor his bent arm.”It’s just too bad, honestly,” he said. “Some people are bornblind… Will a blind man be allowed to fly an aircraft? Sowhy should a bowler be allowed to chuck because he has adefective arm?”He called for the ICC to take action.”What does not conform to law is illegal and the law has to beapplied uniformly. The problem is that the parent body (ICC)is not taking cognisance. It may soon become monstrous – everyteam may end up with three or four chuckers.”Bedi was also critical of fellow countryman Harbhajan Singh’saction when he bowled his arm ball.”In the good old days, it was called the floater. It wasbowled using the shoulder, like an outswinger.”You bowled it with the off-spinner’s action, but withoutimparting any spin. You rolled it, and put in a little extrashoulder, so the ball drifted away.”Now they do it with their elbows and wrists. Anyone using theelbow to turn it the other way is doing it illegally,” hesaid.