As nations gear up for next year's World Cup, some will be fretting over star players. For most, the concern is possible recovery from injury. However, Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka could enter the competition without their leading spinners because they are banned.
Umpires 'calling' a bowler for a suspiciously bent elbow at the point of delivery is nothing new but the spate of big names currently undergoing 'remedial' work on their action is causing more widespread controversy than poor little KP. It used to be fast bowlers but now it's the slowies like Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Narine in the spotlight: the two most successful spinners around.
So are they being unfairly singled out? I don't think so. One of the positives I can pick out from the emergence of Twenty20 cricket is the rise of the wily slowie. Having the ability to mix up flight, pace and line and grip to bamboozle the batsman is imperative and spinners usually open the bowling to take advantage of the Powerplay. The quicker ball is the one which has caught the umpires' watchful eye, but any TV spectator can see that Ajmal in particular bowls with an obviously crooked arm.
Is he a cheat? That would be going too far? I remember trying to bowl off-breaks in a friendly and hearing opposition mutters of 'chucker' but I honestly didn't realise I was doing it. Soon reverted to my usual rubbish medium-pacers! However, whether the elbow bend is 5%, 10%, 15% or 45% if it's against the rules it's illegal. End of. Of course it's impossible with current technology to no-ball someone in a match situation. That's probably a good thing. Imagine how long matches would be to wait for the elbow angle to appear as well as speed, number of rotations (ludicrous!), etc, etc.
I don't know whether Ajmal, Narine and Senenayake come through and attain their previous success with a remodelled action for all deliveries but it is something they must do to avoid the unwanted tag of 'chucker'. Throwing is a form of cheating just as much as stepping over the no-ball line or changing the field when the batsman isn't looking (oh, hang on...). Therefore as a cricket fan I want reassurance that all bowlers are turning Gayle, Pietersen, Kohli and co to gibbering wrecks with legitimate deliveries every time.
