DUBAI, Nov 21: A proposed new throwing rule should make the rules of cricket fairer and easier to apply, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Ehsan Mani said on Sunday.

"What we are trying to do is to come to a system which is fair, which we can protect in the sense that once we put the criteria in place no-one can breach it," Mani said.

The issue of throwing has long caused controversy in cricket with fierce debate over whether the unorthodox action of bowlers such as Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan should be allowed.

The ICC is proposing to increase the elbow flex allowed to bowlers. "Our cricket committee has recommended 15 degree tolerance limit for all bowlers because bio-mechanics have told us that if the bowling arm is bent less than 15 degrees the human eye cannot detect it," Mani said.

"What we are looking at the moment is a two-stage process. If a bowler gets reported, his home board takes over the process. He has six weeks to correct his action during which he can play and once the home board feels is he okay, he can continue without worrying about his action.

"The minute a bowler is reported, his action will be analysed in a laboratory and if the experiments show yes, he is going beyond the level of tolerance, the ICC will step in immediately and testing will be done under our supervision at 15 degrees, and it has to be done in four weeks.

"In lab conditions if it is shown that straightening of the arm is more than 15 degrees, he will not be allowed to play." Current rules impose limits of five degrees for spinners, 7.5 for medium-pacers and 10 for fast bowlers.

Asked about Muralitharan, who has been reported twice for throwing, Mani said: "His action is so quick that the speed at which his arm comes down is quicker than most fast bowlers."

Mani said the old limits had been set without any scientific evidence. "We realised that some slow bowlers' arm actions were as quick as those of fast bowlers. So the question arose whether to treat them as fast bowlers or spinners. Instead of getting involved in that sort of discussion, we thought it better to have same level for everyone.

"So we are sending the whole proposal back to the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) bowling review sub-committee, headed by former England captain Tony Lewis, to get their feedback on how relevant is the law that we are proposing now."

Asked what had prompted the proposed change, Mani said: "We did a (bowling) experiment and looked at the video footage of some of the bowlers we considered to have the perfect action. It turned that out even they have bend - 10 to 11 degrees - in their bowling arm, something which again proves the point that the human eye cannot detect it.

"So we are not making the rules any easier for anyone. What we are saying is that since the human eye can detect any deviation only at 15 degrees or above, anything less than that will be meaningless," he said. -Reuters