Chucking ...UWA has a dummy spit

Uni of WA questions independence of cricket's 'chucking' procedures
Date
August 13, 2014

Chloe Saltau

The University of Western Australia, until recently the main destination for bowlers with dubious actions, has cast doubt on the independence of the International Cricket Council’s new testing procedures as the governing body cracks down on suspected chuckers.

A leading biomechanist from the university says it withdrew its services from the ICC in March because of a dispute over its intellectual property, which it claims the ICC is using to replicate its model for testing bowlers who are reported for throwing.

Since March, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake have been banned from bowling in international cricket after tests at Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales found their elbow extension exceeded the 15-degree limit. Pakistan’s dangerous off-spinner Saeed Ajmal this week became the biggest name reported so far and his availability has massive implications for Australia’s Test series in the United Arab Emirates in October.

Professor Jacqueline Alderson said the University of Western Australia supported the concept of multiple testing laboratories around the world, and was still available to national cricket boards whose players needed to improve their actions, but she said the ICC had effectively taken control of the testing process. Senanayake, who was found to be well over the limit in Cardiff, is now undergoing remedial work in Perth at the expense of the Sri Lankan board.

“The testing of bowlers should be independent, and it’s not. We asked for a copy of the standard ICC testing protocols such that we could remediate Sri Lanka to the level required by the ICC. In an email yesterday the ICC have indicated to Sri Lanka that they won’t be releasing those standards,” Professor Alderson said.

“Any scientific procedure that can impact on the ability of a player to play the game has to be an independent process and the procedures by which those decisions are made must be open to peer review, and must be available to bowlers and their boards to ensure that process is open and fair. I don’t think it’s in the best interests of cricket.”

The intellectual property dispute stems from a review of University of WA testing processes in 2009, which was carried out partly by an Italian data expert who has since been hired by the ICC and was involved in the testing in Cardiff. While it has been reported that the ICC was unconvinced that the Perth lab's procedures were rigorous enough, Professor Alderson said the review had recommended sticking with the University of WA's methods.

When ICC chief executives committee met in Melbourne in June, general manager Geoff Allardice signalled a clear intention to take a less tolerant attitude to throwing.

"The message out of the cricket committee was there's enough bowlers with suspect actions that should be being scrutinised, that probably haven't been," Allardice said at the time. "By scrutinised, it just means they're being tested whenever there are concerns raised. At this stage, it's been pretty quiet for a couple of years. The cricket committee was of the view there are some bowlers operating with suspect actions that should be scrutinised a bit more closely. "We'll review procedures over the next three months and then come back to the chief executives in October with some recommendations about modifications to the procedures to make sure they're doing the job for the game."

From 1995, when Muthiah Muralidaran was called during the Boxing Day Test, until recently, the University of WA was the only accredited lab for testing. It was there that Murali, who has been hired by Darren Lehmann and Australia to help prepare Australia's batsmen to face Ajmal in the UAE, was found to be within the 15-degree limit and cleared.

West Indies spinner Shane Shillingford and teammate Marlon Samuels were banned from bowling after tests in Perth.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/uni-of-wa-questions-independence-of-crickets-chucking-procedures-20140813-103qh8.html#ixzz3ANHKBzXd

I'd rather side with the ICC on this....

UWA spits the dummy because they're no longer getting paid for their inaccurate tests. Not surprised, must've been quite a gravy train.

I agree with above comments. All WA did was rubberstamp chuckers.

About time.

In breaking news, deferred RBTs found no drunks.

Big Dog wrote:I agree with above comments. All WA did was rubberstamp chuckers.

No doubt whilst heavily influenced (I know. Still doesn't make it right) by the ICC. So now the ICC is making it official. Change the rule. I fit's blatantly visible to the naked eye, ban them.

I'm stoked that chuckers are being banned. The test will come with Ajmal, as the pre-eminent spinner in world cricket. We all know he chucks but will the system agree?

Good article by our brocks.   

Bradman wrote:
No doubt whilst heavily influenced (I know.  Still doesn't make it right) by the ICC.  So now the ICC is making it official.  Change the rule.  I fit's blatantly visible to the naked eye, ban them.

As it should have been.

The whole idea behind the 15 degree rule was that 15 degrees was allegedly the point at which a straightening of the elbow becomes visible to the naked eye. They just didn't enforce their own laws.

Perhaps it's time to just legalise it - for spin only of course, we don't want 100mph baseball pitching in cricket... but it's impossible to make arbitrary limits work and spin bowling (as opposed to non-turning slow bowling in T20) needs a helping hand anyway.

beamer wrote:Perhaps it's time to just legalise it - for spin only of course, we don't want 100mph baseball pitching in cricket... but it's impossible to make arbitrary limits work and spin bowling (as opposed to non-turning slow bowling in T20) needs a helping hand anyway.

That is such a minefield: how do you define a spin bowler - is it the revs. he puts on the ball, or is it the speed he bowls at?

There was a televised T20 game last year where Daryl Mitchell was bowling. According to Playfair he's RM, and yet I distinctly remember his average bowling speed being no greater than Graeme Swann's. So, by your reckoning, he would have been called for chucking had he been found to have broken the 15 degree rule, but a spinner bowling at the same pace wouldn't? Not point scoring, but just trying to highlight that this is one huge can of worms.

Sohag Gazi reported now.

Not surprised, to be honest. Terrible action. But twas Bangladesh....

More on this:

http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/805401/let-s-talk-about-flex