Chucking it in: Throwing a grey area – Patel
The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) 15-degree flex limit for bowlers is difficult to police and has become problematic, former Black Caps Jeetan Patel and Chris Harris say.
The issue was dragged back into the spotlight yesterday when New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor appeared to accuse veteran Pakistan offspinner Mohammad Hafeez of a suspect action in the Black Caps’ 47-run opening ODI victory in Abu Dhabi.
Taylor, who topscored with 80 in the win, made a prolonged gesture with his right arm bent at 90 degrees during Hafeez’s first over. He was clearly drawing reference to the 38-year-old allrounder’s questionable action, which has been ruled illegal (beyond the permitted flex of 15 degrees) four times by the ICC. Hafeez was first reported during an ODI tri-series in Australia in 2005.
Since being cleared for the fourth time by the ICC in April, Hafeez had bowled 19 overs in one test and six T20s against Australia and New Zealand before drawing attention to his remodelled action until now.
Offspinner Patel, who played for New Zealand between 2005-17, believed the ICC’s allowable 15 degrees of flex had turned into a grey area of the law.
‘‘The boundaries are getting pushed now. That’s what the rules allow. The rules allow the boundaries to be pushed.
‘‘If you’re going to allow 15 degrees, how you can tell what’s 15 and what’s 15.5 when you’re out in the middle? There’s always going to be conjecture.’’
Former Black Caps allrounder Harris, a medium-pace bowler, agreed and said there were times throughout his international career he had concerns about a bowler’s action while batting.
‘‘It’s a really difficult situation and it’s very hard to monitor.
‘‘My understanding of it is, if it occasionally goes beyond 15 [degrees], if it’s on the odd occasion, that’s very hard to monitor. Where the problem lies is if people feel it’s consistently above that 15-degree angle.’’
Patel questioned whether there could be greater technology available to the third umpire and match referee during matches to Thirteen years after his first-class cricket debut for Otago, offspinner Will Somerville is within touching distance of a Black Caps test debut at age 34.
Wellington-born Somerville, who was tipped as an Australian test contender in early 2017 after a prolific season for New South Wales, is bound for the United Arab Emirates to replace luckless
analyse bowlers’ actions.
It was sometimes difficult to tell whether a bowler was slightly extending their elbow flex above the 15-degree threshold, which made it tricky to gauge.
‘‘They’ve got Hawk-Eye and DRS [umpire decision review system] and all this technology that can provide you with almost game-changing decisions. Can they have that sort of technology available for when they’re playing games in terms of actions?,’’ Patel said.
‘‘One degree change, you legspinner Todd Astle in the test squad to face Pakistan.
Astle was ruled out of the tour yesterday with a knee injury.
It opened the door for the towering figure of Somerville after just two Plunket Shield matches for Auckland, having quit NSW to chase selection for his country of birth.
wouldn’t be able to tell on TV, you wouldn’t be able to see in person, but you can obviously see on a computer.’’
Both Patel and Harris defended Taylor’s behaviour, which angered Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who labelled it ‘‘disgraceful’’ and said it was the umpires’ job to oversee.
They argued it was out of character for the usually mildmannered Taylor, who was clearly frustrated Hafeez hadn’t been spoken to by the umpires.