Murali told not to bowl the doosra

Murali will have to put the doosra away for the moment © Getty Images Enlarge

Sri Lanka Cricket has instructed Muttiah Muralitharan to stop bowling the doosra in international cricket. The Sri Lankan board's report rubber-stamped the report of the University of Western Australia, which found that Murali's doosra was in breach of the current laws on throwing. The ICC has welcomed the decision to instruct Murali not to bowl it. Murali, who is now in stage one of the review process for illegal actions, could be banned for up to 12 months if he is reported again within a year.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said: "The report forwarded by Sri Lanka Cricket proves that the degree of straightening is well outside the ICC's specified levels of tolerance. In light of this finding, Sri Lanka Cricket has now advised the ICC that it has instructed Mr Muralitharan not to bowl this delivery in international cricket. The ICC supports this action."

The ICC has also made it clear that it has no immediate plans to revise the tolerance limits that are in effect. "At the same time, the authors of the report expressed their opinions about the current regulations governing the levels of tolerance used to assess a bowler's action, and Sri Lanka Cricket has advised the ICC that it will be seeking to have these regulations changed at the earliest opportunity."

The recent study on Murali found a straightening of 14 degrees, which is well above the current tolerance limit of five degrees for spinners. After remedial work, this was reduced to 10 degrees, which is still twice the permissible level.

At the moment Murali is within the six-week first stage of the ICC's bowling review process, having been reported during the final Test of the recent series against Australia. This means that on-field umpires can call him for throwing if a particular delivery does not conform to the laws of the game. Effectively he is on probation till May 13, when this period ends.

If Murali continues to bowl the doosra, and is reported within 12 months of the first report, he moves on to stage two of the review process, in which he will be scrutinised by the ICC's bowling review group. This group has the power to ban Murali for 12 months if it believes his action is illegal.

Speed explained that the current levels of tolerance were fixed after thorough research. "The levels were introduced after consultation with well-qualified experts in the field and are based on research into the actions of all types of bowlers - spinners, medium-pacers and fast bowlers. The levels vary according to the style of bowler because different styles of bowlers will gain an advantage at different levels." He added that "the current regulations reflect the current levels of understanding".

Speed advised that there would be no hurried changes made to the levels of tolerance. "It will only be after this research is completed that the ICC will be in a position to know if there is a sufficiently strong fact-based argument to alter the levels of tolerance currently in place. Until this time, the ICC will continue to apply the levels of tolerance that are in place."