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| February 5, 2006 | Sunday | Muharram 6, 1427 |
Murli undergoes further tests to clear action
SYDNEY, Feb 4: Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has undergone private tests to prove his bowling action is legal after receiving a hostile reception from Australian crowds in the current one-day triangular series.
Muralitharan volunteered to take tests at the University of Western Australia in Perth this week following speculation his faster bowling speed had made his action illegal.
The bowler and university professor Bruce Elliott held a joint news conference in Perth on Saturday confirming the tests proved his action was legitimate.
“The latest testing shows, irrespective of whether he’s bowling a ‘doosra’ or an off-break, all his deliveries were under 15 degrees, so none were illegal,” professor Elliott said.
Muralitharan’s unusual bowling action has come under scrutiny for over a decade since he was first called for throwing in the 1995 Boxing Day Test in Australia.
He was cleared by experts and allowed to continue bowling but refused to return to Australia after the crowds started chanting “no-ball” whenever he bowled.
Muralitharan agreed to come back to Australia for last year’s Asian tsunami fundraiser in Melbourne and the ICC Super Series but is threatening never to return again after becoming increasingly frustrated at the crowd’s heckling of him.
He was given an unofficial reprimand by the International Cricket Council for making a one-fingered gesture at a spectator who upset him in Perth on Tuesday.
“Every time I bowl they shouted from the grounds. Every time I go near the boundary line they say things that mean they are not accepting me,” he said.
“Sometimes you feel why do you want to come and play?”
Sri Lanka are due to tour Australia for a Test series starting in November next year and Muralitharan said he he hoped the latest tests would convince detractors to stop criticising him.
“They should realise I’m a normal bowler, like others. I’m not doing something wrong,” he said.
“I’ve been to every country, England, South Africa, everywhere. People respect me and enjoy my bowling and enjoy the cricket. Here, I don’t know what’s happening.”—Reuters
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