Waller’s bowling action found to be illegal

Sport
THE International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday confirmed that an independent analysis has found the bowling action of Zimbabwe’s Malcolm Waller to be illegal and, as such, the off-spinner has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect.

THE International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday confirmed that an independent analysis has found the bowling action of Zimbabwe’s Malcolm Waller to be illegal and, as such, the off-spinner has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect.

Malcolm Waller
Malcolm Waller

The analysis revealed that all of his off-spin deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level oftolerance permitted under the regulations.

Waller was reported after the second Test against Bangladesh in Khulna last month. The analysis was performed by the ICC’s accredited team of Human Movement Specialists at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, on December 7.

Waller can apply for a re-assessment after modifying his bowling action in accordance with clause 2.4 of the Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions.

Another Zimbabwe spinner Prosper Utseya was reported to the ICC for a suspected illegal action in August and was suspended from bowling in October after his action was tested.

 Prosper Utseya
Prosper Utseya

After remedial work, a re-test has now ruled that his range of slow-medium deliveries fall within the permitted 15 degrees of arm extension.

However, his off-spin remains banned.

Nine off-spinners, including Waller and Utseya have been reported to the ICC for illegal actions in the last 13 months, along with Bangladesh seamer Al-Amin Hossain, who was cleared following tests.

Utseya and Waller were both recently named in Zimbabwe’s provisional 30-member squad for the World Cup, which must be reduced to 15 players by January 7, meaning he has very little time to remedy his action.

Zimbabwe do not currently have any full internationals scheduled until the World Cup, which begins in Australia and New Zealand on February 14. — Sports Reporter/ICC