The History of "Chucking"

While watching the first test between Pakistan and England, and having read the reports regarding Saeed Ajmals bowling action, I thought I'd take a look at the history of "chucking". Muttiah Muralitharan is possibly the most high profile case when it comes to chucking, after he was no balled by umpire Daryll Hair in the Boxing Day test of 1995.

While in some instances, the degree in which someone bends there arm can be seen with the naked eye, there are some where it is not so clear cut, and for me, Ajmal falls into this bracket.

The law has changed numerous times since 1829 from when bowling was delivered underarm. The change in the law actually led to what has since become known as; "round arm bowling". If we look at the latest law change, altered in 2000;

"Law 24.3: A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler's arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing."

This law led to the world's fastest bowlers at the time, Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar, being cited for the throwing, while Harbajhan Singh and Saqlain Mustaq both developed what is now known as the doosra, it was Muralitharan who mastered this delivery, and it was he who the subject of the most scrutiny. He was ordered to have further testing conducted to ensure this delivery was legal at the University of Western Australia; he was later cleared of chucking.

What happens once a bowler has been reported?

If an umpire or match official feel that any bowler has breached the law 24.3, then must include details of why he believes this in his match report before it is passed on to the match referee. Then within 24 hours of the completion of the match, the referee must provide the team manager and the ICC with a copy of the match report, the media will also be informed.

The player is usually informed that they must attend an independent review, which is carried out by a member of the ICC panel of human movement specialists, they then feedback to the ICC their findings. The outcomes of this report are as follows;

1. If the player is found to have an illegal action, he is immediately suspended from all international cricket until the action has been remedied.
2. If only a certain delivery is illegal, the player will be allowed to play International cricket, however they will not be allowed to bowl the illegal delivery.

While the independent assessment is occurring the player is allowed to continue to play International cricket. If the player is unhappy with what the report says he can appeal it, and the appeal with be heard by a group of experts selected by the ICC who will then review the evidence and make their decision by a majority vote. Any player suspended due to this can continue to play domestic cricket under the supervision of their own board.

Two players who were subject to an independent review where Shoaib Akhtar, and the Indian bowler R. P. Singh. Both of these bowlers where cleared after it was found they extended their elbow joints by a negative angle, giving the appearance of throwing as the elbow hyper extended.

Looking to the present now, and at Ajmal's action I don't believe that he is a "chucker". When looking at his action, it does not appear that his arm action is that much different to Harbajhan Singh's. With reports from members of the England camp casting doubt on this, I do believe that the ICC should step in, run the tests and give Ajmal a chance to show the world that his action is legitimate and that he is one of the best bowlers in world cricket today.