Hafeez cleared to bowl in international cricket

Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistan allrounder, has been cleared to bowl in international cricket. His reworked action was found to be legal by results of a retest conducted in an ICC-accredited facility in Chennai on April 9.

Hafeez was suspended from bowling in December last year after he was called during the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. He had missed his first official assessment owing to a calf injury, which had also ruled him out of the World Cup. But the PCB had requested the ICC for a retest on Hafeez's action, along with Pakistan women's allrounder Javeria Khan.

"At the retests, it was revealed that the amount of elbow extensions in both the offspinners' bowling actions for all their deliveries bowled were within the 15-degree level of tolerance," an ICC media release said.

At the time of his suspension, Hafeez's elbow had extended as far as 31 degrees. An unofficial test of his action in January showed the flex, while still above permissible levels, had reduced to 16-19 degrees. He had played as a specialist batsman against New Zealand in the UAE ODIs, and is currently with the squad in Bangladesh as well. Pakistan play the final ODI of a three-match series tomorrow and then a T20 and two Tests.

Javeria, who had been suspended from bowling in July 2010, has also played for Pakistan as a specialist batsman. But the PCB in a release had said she had "done a decent bit of work in remodeling her bowling action with the help of experts."