ICC umpire clears action of Shabbir

Karachi, Aug 9: Test umpire Salim Badar has cleared paceman Shabbir Ahmad's bowling action after he made minor changes in his delivery action on the advice of Sarfaraz Nawaz.

Salim, who last year was on the panel of International Cricket Council (ICC) panel of umpires, watched the lanky bowler in action from different angles before submitting his report to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

However, Sarfaraz Nawaz, the fast bowlers' coach, said Salim has approved Shabbir's action. Sarfaraz said the umpire was called to given a clearance in writing so that there was no fuss over the action of the tall bowler when he returns to Test arena in the coming season.

Sarfaraz said Shabbir's bowling action was altered a little and added that he was now generating good pace and bounce. Sarfaraz said the pacer's head was falling while delivering the ball but now he had an upright and high arm action.

Sarfaraz, the master of swing bowling, said a video of Shabbir's bowling action would be made in Thursday's practice match for future references. "We want to close this chapter of chucking once and for ever. A former ICC umpire would give us in writing that his action was right and then we would have a video to support the argument," Sarfaraz said.

Meanwhile, six fast bowlers attending the training camp were ruled out of back-to-back matches to be played on Thursday and Friday owing to different injuries.

Mohammad Asif (back strain), Saad Janjua (groin injury), Kashif Raza (back strain), Yasir Arafat (shoulder injury), Shahid Nazir (twisted ankle) and Mohammad Fayyaz (muscular back pain) who broken down after attending strenuous training sessions in the camp now 12 days old.

Yasir Arafat is likely to be out of action for at least after he aggravated his shoulder injury. Yasir suffered the problems at the fag end of the Kenya tour. But instead of giving it ample time to recover, he reported at the camp and got it exacerbated.