ICC responds to Crowe's comments

The ICC has responded to Martin Crowe's comments in his recent Spirit of Cricket Lecture at Lord's by saying that it is dealing with the issue of suspect bowling actions more effectively than ever. In his address, Crowe criticised the new 15-degree law and said that all bent arms should be banned.

However, the ICC says the current regulations, in place since March 2005, provide a scientific basis for judging a player's action while at the same time recognising the reality that almost all bowlers are likely to straighten their arm to some extent during delivery.

"The regulations are based on the views of an expert panel of former players including Angus Fraser, Michael Holding and Tony Lewis - the current Chairman of the MCC's Cricket Committee," said David Richardson, the ICC's General Manager - Cricket. "This group studied the research of prominent bio-mechanists Professor Bruce Elliot, Dr Paul Hurrion and Mr Marc Portus and the scientific evidence they were presented with was overwhelming.

"The facts are that some bowlers, even those never suspected of having flawed actions, were found likely to be straightening their arms by 11 or 12 degrees. And at the same time, some bowlers that may appear to be throwing may be hyper-extending or bowl with permanently bent elbows.

"Under a strict interpretation of the Law they were breaking the rules but if we ruled out every bowler that did that then there would be no bowlers left. The game needed to deal with that reality and the current regulations do just that.

Richardson added that the new laws have made the umpires' job easier and provide a scientific base for testing actons. "What they do is take the pressure off umpires because it is now no longer one person's view of whether or not a bowler has an illegal action. It is something that can be proved scientifically and the assessment is independent and not partisan.

"At the same time the umpire retains the right to call a bowler for throwing and the first judgment he makes is still based on his instincts after viewing an action with the naked eye," he added.

The regulations include a 15 degree level of tolerance in elbow extension for all bowlers during delivery, which was identified by the panel of experts as the point after which the bend is likely to become visible to the naked eye.

Five senior international bowlers have been reported under the new process - Harbhajan Singh of India, Pakistan's Shabbir Ahmed and Shoaib Malik, Jermaine Lawson of the West Indies and Johan Botha of South Africa.

Richardson also responded to Crowe's comments about the value of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in Test cricket. "Bangladesh has taken time to adjust to the demands of Test cricket but that mirrors the experience of every side that has stepped up to the top level.

"Bangladesh is a cricket-crazy country and has shown encouraging signs of development and, given time, we fully expect it to become more and more competitive at Test level. Zimbabwe has already stepped back from its Test commitments to allow itself time to regroup and we are keen to help it in that process in any way we can."