Mumbai, November 09 The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in a bid to stop bowlers with suspect action playing domestic cricket, has cracked the whip by asking the umpires to call these bowlers for chucking without issuing a warning if they transgress the law in domestic matches.
The BCCI, after having provided the list of a whopping 32 players with suspected bowling action to match referees, umpires’ , coaches and its panel of umpires as well as all affiliated associations, asked match officials to stay away from suggesting or instructing any cricket association or captains ”not to play a particular player.” ”During the pre-match meeting the match referee will only convey the warning and the outcome as per action replay if any bowler from the circulated list plays and bowls with suspected action,” the guidelines issued by BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said.
”Since the warning is already conveyed to the captains during the pre-match meetings by match referee, there is no need for an umpire to give any further warning to such bowlers on the field,” the guidelines stated.
”If the bowler with suspected action plays and if in the opinion of the umpires he bowls with suspected action they can immediately call and stop him from bowling as per the law. He should not be allowed to bowl during the match. This action should be clearly communicated by match referees to team officials,” the guidelines further added.
The Cricket Board also stressed that umpires and referees ”should not encourage any discussions with reference to 15 degrees criteria or comparison with any international bowler who may have peculiar action.” The 32-strong list of bowlers with suspected action includes 12, whose degree of transgression ranged from 0 to 15 degrees which has been accepted as permissible by the International Cricket Council.
The other 20 bent their arms to a higher degree, with five doing it between 15-20 degrees and 15 by more than 20 degrees, the guidelines said.
Among those who underwent observation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for bending their arm above 15 degrees, four bowlers belonged to Kerala Cricket Association and the rest were from Tripura (3), Maharashtra (2), Bengal (2), Assam (2), Baroda (2), Gujarat (2), Hyderabad (1), Vidarbha (1) and Jammu and Kashmir (1).
The guidelines identified these 20 bowlers as ”proven chuckers as their actions could not be rectified during the rehabilitation.” However, the BCCI has asked its officials to be vigilant even with those who bend their arms below 15 degrees ”as rehabilitation at the NCA and bowling during match situations are two different issues.” The guidlines also gave a list of ten bowlers who were called for chucking during this season’s junior and senior Twenty20 tournaments.
–Agencies–