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| DAWN
OF A NEW ERA The 32 year old Muralitharan who has been in the centre of controversy for almost a decade due to his bowling action was extremely happy that finally justice has been done. Speaking to The Sunday Times soon after the ICC announced the landmark change last morning Murali said,"I am very happy that finally it has happened and it is official now. Justice has been done. This is what I have been waiting for. I am glad and relieved now". Meanwhile commenting on the ICC decision Sri Lanka Cricket Media Manager Ray Illangakoon said,"We are extremely happy for Murali and Sri Lanka Cricket. SLC is particularly happy that all their efforts put in the recent past and by their past presidents over this issue has finally paid dividends". With the new change Muttiah Muralithran will be able to bowl his lethal "doosra" which was reported by ICC match referee Chris Broad as an illegal delivery last year. Murali's "doosra" was tested to be at 14.2 degrees at a time the ICC permitted level was only five degrees. However the off spinner will now be able to bowl his original "doosra" without any hindrance from the ICC match officials following the radical changes announced by the ICC yesterday. Changes to the process were initially proposed by an expert cricket panel comprising Aravinda de Silva, Angus Fraser, Michael Holding, Tony Lewis and Tim May along with the former South African vice-captain and ICC General Manager - Cricket, David Richardson following extensive test on bowlers during the Champions trophy in England last September. These proposals were then considered by the ICC's Cricket Committee, a committee made up of former international players and umpires which is chaired by former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar. It was the ICC Cricket Committee which made the final recommendations to the ICC Chief Executives Committee (CEC) after properly scrutinizing the proposal and making some amendments to the process to be adopted. The CEC which met in Melbourne on Thursday and Friday gave the green light to the recommendations which will now come into effect from the 1st March 2005. Sri Lanka was represented at the Melbourne meeting by Chief Executive Duleep Mendis. In a press release ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that despite the inevitable reaction that will come from parts of the cricket community, the radical overhaul provided the best opportunity for the game to deal with an issue that has affected cricket for over sixty years. "This issue has afflicted the game for over sixty years. Try as it might, the sport has never properly come to terms with it," said Mr Speed. "Every time it comes up there are emotional reactions from people around the world based on fear and ignorance and I've no doubt we will see them all again this time". "The reality is that this new process provides the game with a sensible way forward to properly protect against people breaking the rules while providing every opportunity for players with illegal actions to remedy any problems and return to the game." The changes that were approved at the ICC CEC meeting with regard to illegal bowling action is as follows. 1. An acceptance that the focus of the Law concerning illegal actions is that it seeks to deal with the extension of the arm that is visible to the naked eye. 2. All bowlers will be permitted to straighten their bowling arm up to 15 degrees which has been established as the point at which any straightening will become visible to the naked eye. 3. The introduction of a shorter, independent review process under the central control of the ICC with immediate suspensions for bowlers found to have illegal actions. 4. The overhaul and standardisation of the bio-mechanical testing of bowlers to ensure that all tests in all laboratories are consistent in the way that they measure the degree of straightening. 5. Strengthening of the initiatives to deal with the issue at the international and regional Under 19 level. |
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