COLOMBO, March 28: Controversial Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on Sunday was reported for his suspect bowling action following concern over his new delivery, match referee Chris Broad said.
Former England Test batsman Broad reported the matter to the International Cricket Council (ICC) after watching the Sri Lankan bowl during the third and final Test against Australia here.
In contention is Muralitharan's new delivery, which spins away from the right-handers. Broad said the bowler's 'doosra', which turns away from the right-handers, needed more looking into.
He added that he had discussed the matter with umpires Dave Orchard and Steve Bucknor and they were fully aware of the situation. Muralitharan finished the three-Test series against Australia with 28 wickets to take his tally to 513, needing seven more to break retired West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh's world record of 519.
"This issue now comes under the ICC's regulations dealing with this matter and over the next six weeks an expert bio-mechanist will be appointed by Sri Lanka Cricket to work with the bowler to clearly identify and address any flaws that may occur during the delivery action," an ICC statement said.
"Muralitharan will be able to continue to play during this time." It added that the match-referee reviewed Muralitharan's new delivery and after examining the action closely decided to report the bowler to the ICC and notify the Sri Lankan board.
Muralitharan, thrice called for chucking by Australian umpires during his career, was the fourth player to be reported to the ICC under its revised process to deal with potentially flawed actions in the past 12 months.
West Indies' Jermaine Lawson, Bangladeshi Sanwar Hossain and Pakistani paceman Shabbir Ahmed have already been asked to undergo remedial work on their bowling actions. -AFP
