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| Thursday, 10 June 2004 |
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SLC makes strong case for Murali's doosra by Sa'adi Thawfeeq With the help of eminent lawyers and top advisers Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have sent a strong document to the International Cricket Council (ICC) in defence of champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's doosra delivery. SLC president Mohan de Silva addressing a well attended press conference at its headquarters yesterday said that the SLC had written to the ICC strongly urging them to have a re-look at the stipulated levels of tolerance because the research for slow bowlers was going to be carried out only during the Champions trophy tournament in September. "What we are trying to tell them is whether it is fair to victimize just one bowler because he is the only one who has been reported by a match referee and gone under scrutiny. There are so many other bowlers who also continue to bowl the doosra. We have actually asked them a few questions," said De Silva. "The expert who tested Murali has in his report said that although Murali went beyond the stipulated tolerance level he was not gaining any undue advantage by going upto 10 degrees. He also mentions that his arm rotation speed was equal to that of a pace bowler," continued De Silva. "With such evidence available we didn't want to destroy his entire cricketing career. We were not thinking of short-term benefits. As a responsible body we want to protect him because he is an invaluable asset to Sri Lanka. If he had gone to the second stage there would have been other tests carried out and the next thing would have been his usual delivery the off-break. "The present levels of tolerance as laid down by the ICC we feel have been arrived at by research carried out on fast bowlers at this stage and it should be reviewed. We don't want to go on a confrontational path against the ICC but followed the laid out procedure," he said. De Silva also pointed out that even the ICC general manager of cricket operations Dave Richardson had suggested a tolerance level of 15 degrees for all bowlers based on research carried out on fast bowlers, which unfortunately the ICC had not accepted. He said that was one of the points they were raising in Murali's defence. Correct advice SLC chief executive Duleep Mendis said: "After Murali was reported by Chris Broad in March there were many things we needed to get clarified from the ICC. There were some grey areas like speed. Were they referring to the ball speed, or rotation of the arm speed?" "Some of these areas are not very clear. A fast bowler can bowl a slower ball and a slow bowler can bowl a fast ball. Are we going to have two sets of tolerance levels for one bowler? These are some of the areas we were not sure and so was Murali. We felt that it is our duty to clarify from the ICC and we are awaiting a response," said Mendis. Mendis said that at no stage had the SLC left Muralitharan alone. "From the very first day he was reported we have been backing him and giving him the correct advice. When we found that he was going beyond the tolerance level of five degrees for a spinner we felt that we should advice him. We did and he refrained from bowling the doosra in the second Test against Zimbabwe," Mendis said. "Anyone who had the common sense would realise if he bowled the doosra the match referee would put a report to the ICC who will then take over and do whatever they want. They could even ban him for 12 months until his action rectified," he said. "At the moment we are on the right path. We are not trying to antagonise the ICC because there are certain set rules, which we have to follow. We will follow that and give Murali the proper advice." De Silva said that SLC had a strong case on Muralitharan and that he was confident that they would be able to push it through with support from other ICC member countries. "I have personally contacted a fair number of heads of home boards from the rest of the world. They have pledged their support in our cause to get a review done on these stipulated levels. Six of the home boards I have spoken to have more or less assured us of their support," said De Silva. There are 10 full member countries in the ICC. De Silva said that Mendis will be taking this issue up at the chief executives meeting of the ICC in June28-29 at Lord's and thereafter he will be making representations at the executive board meeting which will follow on July 1. "We have been able to put together a strong case for Muralitharan because lots of eminent lawyers voluntarily came forward on behalf of Murali to support and join hands with us. We had a couple of meetings with them and we reached a consensus of our next forward," he said. Political mileage De Silva was critical of certain individuals trying to gain political mileage on the Muralitharan issue. "Certain individuals have gone on record saying that we should have never sent Murali to the University of Western Australia for testing. I think this is a ridiculous and baseless statement. We don't want such statements to mislead the public," said De Silva. "Right thinking people will not take them seriously but it is important that we educate our cricket loving public because we have a responsibility by them. It is with that intention that we have called for this media conference today." Manager Ajith Jayasekera clarified the position clearly when he said: "There were reports recently that the SLC should not have sent Murali to Australia for testing. The ICC's official handbook specifically mentions that scientific testing has to be carried out. The local bowling review group is given the responsibility for stage one lasting for a period of six weeks and a human movement specialist from the ICC panel may be co-opted to this for the purpose of testing him." "The procedure itself is laid down where the tests have to be done by synchronized high speed cameras operating at a minimum of 200 frames per second to collect the data. We do not have the facilities here. It is available only in a scientific laboratory, which is in Western Australia. There was no question of whether Murali should have been sent to Western Australia or not." Jayasekera said that during the tour to Zimbabwe the team management were able to convince Muralitharan not to bowl the doosra and he obliged by not doing so in the second Test at Bulawayo. The manager said that the ICC match referee (Mike Procter) was so pleased with the decision that he came to the Sri Lanka dressing room and thanked Muralitharan for refraining from bowling the doosra. He said that reports in certain sections of the media that the ICC had banned the doosra delivery were incorrect. "The ICC has never banned it. It has still not been banned. The ICC will ban it only if it goes to the second stage,"a said Jayasekera. |
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