COLOMBO, April 21: Sri Lanka's cricket authorities on Wednesday slammed "speculative reporting" for fuelling a controversy over star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan running the risk of an immediate 12-month ban.
Sri Lanka Cricket chief Mohan de Silva accused local media of speculating on the findings of a biomechanical expert who tested Muralitharan for suspect bowling action in Australia and casting doubts over the player.
"What the media has done is to selectively take bits and pieces from the report," de Silva said. "This is damaging to the player as well as the game." Muralitharan was reported by match referee Chris Broad during last month's home Test series against Australia.
De Silva denied media reports the International Cricket Council (ICC) had threatened to ban Muralitharan, saying the sport's world governing body merely set out the procedure involved when a bowler was reported for a suspect action. "We are still in the first phase of the process where the local board is required to submit a report," de Silva said.
"But if the bowler is reported again within a year of the first report, then we get to the second stage of the ICC bowling review committee taking over the matter and has the power to impose a ban for a year."
De Silva said the local board's bowling review committee had gone through the report submitted by Australian biomechanical expert Jacque Alderson and a report will be sent to the ICC later Wednesday.
Originally the report was to have been sent last week, but officials here said a review of the video footage had delayed making their own findings which were being sent Wednesday.
Although the Australian expert's report is yet to be made public, it has called on the ICC to allow spinners to extend their arm by 10 degrees instead of the current limit of five, which would make Muralitharan's doosra 'legal'.
However, the ICC said in London Tuesday "the existing regulations governing the degree to which a spin bowler can straighten his arm or 'level of tolerance' (five degrees) remain in place and will be enforced."
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said: "The current levels of tolerance reflect the reality that most bowlers straighten their arm to some degree when bowling." "As recently as last September at its meeting of Board Chief Executives in India, the ICC reviewed these levels and all countries were in agreement that the current standards should remain in place.
Long before the controversy over the 'doosra', Muralitharan's stock action, generated widespread debate about its legality. He was called three times for "chucking" by Australian umpires before being cleared by bio-mechanical experts, who concluded he suffered from a congenital condition that prevented him from straightening his elbow. -AFP
