Elliott okays Muralitharan doosra

Bruce Elliott's biomechanics team at the University of Western Australia has concluded that Muttiah Muralitharan should be allowed to continue using his doosra until the completion of further biomechanical research into slow bowling.

But Muralitharan, who departed last week for Sri Lanka's tour of Zimbabwe, faces an anxious wait to see whether those conclusions are accepted because the results also show that he currently exceeds the flexing threshold that has been agreed by the ICC.

The Sri Lankan cricket board, privately upbeat after the reading the conclusions of Elliott's assessment of Muralitharan's doosra, which was e-mailed to the board on Wednesday, have refused to publicise the results until they have been analysed by a Bowling Review Group and sent to the ICC.

The board also wants to seek the ICC's advice on the issue. They will argue that the permitted "levels of tolerance" for spin bowlers be urgently reviewed because they are impractical. Their strict enforcement would theoretically leave too many international bowlers facing bans.

Tolerance levels were recently introduced by the ICC - although not into the Laws of Cricket - because research into fast bowling indicated that some degree of elbow straightening was identified in 99% of cases. The natural elbow flexion spanned from 3 to 20 degrees.

After the completion of these studies, fast bowlers were permitted to straighten by 10 degrees, medium pacers 7.5 degrees and spinners five degrees. The ICC also committed itself to further research, particularly into the biomechanics of spin bowling.

The Muralitharan report will not only argue that the tolerance levels are too low, but also question whether the correct criterion for distinguishing the appropriate threshold should be the current pace of the delivery or the speed of the arm - Muralitharan's arm speed is similar to a fast bowler.

Muralitharan's arm bend hovers around the 10-degree mark, a level that the University of Western Australia team have concluded does not give him an unfair advantage over batsman or other bowlers.

Muralitharan is keen to use the delivery during the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe, but the Sri Lanka board may insist he relies on his offbreak and orthodox top-spinner until guidance is provided by the ICC on whether he would risk being reported again, were he to use it after the initial six-week stage one process for dealing with suspect deliveries.