Shoaib not reported in Sharjah: ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed Tuesday that the officials of the Sharjah Test series have not expressed any concerns on the bowling action of Shoaib Akhtar.

"So far, there has been no report from Sharjah about Shoaib Akhtar's action," the ICC said in a statement to Dawn.

There were serious doubts about the future of Shoaib, particularly after Darrell Hair was appointed ICC umpire for the second Test. Hair blew the whistle on Shoaib when he reported him for a suspect bowling action during the Perth Test in 1999. Since then, Shoaib has been reported twice - both last year - and faces the possibility of being banned from international cricket for a year. However, team sources did confirm that an ICC umpire and match referee did see Shoaib's action in slow motions.

Nevertheless, not reporting his action to the ICC leads to the conclusion that two ICC umpires and Mike Denness have officially given clean sheet to the controversial fast bowler who did bowl pretty well in the desert city.

The PCB chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia last week had expressed fears that Shoaib would be reported again, particularly after he started taking wickets and the World Cup just round the corner.

Tauqir had further threatened that if Shoaib was reported or called, the team would be withdrawn from the field and the tour would be aborted immediately. However, aborting tour seems highly unlikely as Pakistan's next off-shore assignment is in September in Sri Lanka (ICC KnockOut tournament) and the crucial African safari that leads upto next February's World Cup.

Former Test umpire Mahboob Shah who is also the chairman of the National Umpiring Council, however, said both the umpires were entitled to call or report any bowler for suspect bowling action.

"Although the square-leg umpire is in better position to judge the bowling action, either umpire can report the matter to the match referee," he said.

He was commenting on the basis that from April, both third country umpires would officiate Test matches. In Sharjah, Shoaib bowled from Hair's end.