February 2, 2006	Thursday	Muharram 3, 1427

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PERTH, Feb 1: The bowling expert who helped Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan remain in cricket Test ranks believes spinner’s bowling action is again ringing warning bells and should be examined closely by international umpires.

University of WA expert Bruce Elliott, who tested South African spinner Johan Botha on Wednesday after bowler was reported for a suspect action in third Test last month, admitted Muralitharan was bowling differently from in his UWA session in 2004.

Muralitharan’s ability to bowl his doosra, off-spinner’s wrong’un that also caused Botha to be reported, was still questionable and should be examined closely by ICC match officials, Elliott said.

Sri Lankan was now bowling more than 30kmh faster than he did at his last UWA examination, raising concerns that his bowling arm was extending beyond 15-degree limit introduced by ICC under its new chucking regulations.

“I have no doubt about his off- break because he can bowl that quite legitimately and has a lot of leeway in his elbow extension,” Elliott said.

“The doosra, I have more concern for. Warning bells should ring and it should be looked at more carefully from an umpiring perspective.”

Elliott’s admission came when India’s coach Greg Chappell, under pressure after a 1-0 series loss to Pakistan, said Muralitharan and paceman Shoaib Akhtar should be tested again.

Elliott, an ICC-contracted biomechanist, acknowledged that Muralitharan was bowling much faster than he did at UWA in April 2004, when Bruce Yardley acted as an independent observer to ensure spinner’s action replicated his normal match technique.

UWA bowling report sent to ICC confirmed that Muralitharan operated in range of 65-72kmh during that 2004 testing, much lower than this week’s one-dayers at WACA Ground where he delivered ball at up to 96kmh.—PPI