‘Doosra could threaten integrity of Australian cricket’
Ajmal was cleared by the ICC in 2009 after his action was thoroughly tested by an Australian University. -Photo by AP
SYDNEY: Australia’s chairman of selectors John Inverarity on Friday urged caution over producing a generation of chuckers by teaching the doosra to the country’s aspiring spin bowlers.
The doosra, the difficult-to-bowl leg-spinner delivered with an off-spinning action, has been a key weapon for leading sub-continent slow bowlers in Test cricket, including Sri Lanka’s retired world-record holder Muttiah Muralitharan.
Muralitharan claimed last month that Australia’s failure to produce a top-line spinner since Shane Warne’s retirement from Tests in 2007, can be attributed to the regimented attitude of the nation’s coaches.
But former Test batsman Inverarity, 68, has cautioned against the clamour among Australia’s spin fraternity to embrace the doosra.
“That’s a question of integrity for Cricket Australia (CA),” Inverarity told a cricket luncheon in Melbourne on Friday.
“If you’re going to bowl a doosra, that’s how you do it,” Inverarity said in fielding a question from a luncheon guest about whether the doosra constituted chucking.
“It’s a serious issue. We’ve got to keep our integrity,” he said.
“We’ve got to teach our bowlers to bowl properly.
“I’m all for them learning it but it has got to be within the rules, for the integrity of the game and Australia’s cricket heritage.
“We should always run a measure over them to make sure they’re bowling legitimately (according to the 15-degree threshold rule for elbow flexion).”
Inverarity’s comments are likely to be met with scepticism in Asia, where most bowlers of the ‘doosra’ originate.
Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, the highest-profile bowler of the delivery today, was cleared by the International Cricket Council in 2009 after his action was thoroughly tested by an Australian University.
Australia World Twenty20 captain George Bailey returned from the World T20 in Sri Lanka this month calling for CA to look closely at coaching young spinners to bowl the doosra.
“You look at the guys who did well, the guys who have doosras and leg spinners who have real weapons in their armoury,” Bailey said.
“You look at the subcontinent spinners, they use the 14 degrees in their elbow. I know it ruffles a few feathers with their actions but you need that to bowl those doosras.
“I don’t think we have got those coaches over here that know how to do that. I think we have to access some of the subcontinent coaches.”
Muralitharan, who retired from international cricket after Sri Lanka lost the World Cup final to India last year, finished his Test career with a record 800 wickets, 92 ahead of Warne.
Despite being branded a ‘chucker’ by sections of the press, particularly in Australia where he was called for bowling no-balls by controversial Umpire Darrell Hair, his action was cleared by ICC.
The ‘doosra’ – literally ‘the second one’ in Urdu – was invented by former Pakistani off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.
Maybe they should revisit the underarm ball.. Just to stick to the integrity of the game
lol. that’s a funny comment dude. well said
I completely agree. Only sub continent bowlers like Muralidharan, Ajmal,Harbhajan etc have this bowl in their armory while most outside do not because their respective boards do not encourage any suspect actions. We fanatically support these bowlers while fully knowing that they are Chuckers. The ICC must strike this down with an iron first so we dont have another generation of Chuckers.Somehow, its hard to digest the achievements of someone like Muthiah and the like in comparison to a Shane Warne. If they are linient now, we may soon have bowlers standing at the crease and flinging the ball. Sorry- sport has to to be played fair !
Grapes are sour……………..typical ehinging mentality
It will not be surprising if after maybe 10 years (if they learn to deliver the doosra, only then and only then) they will start calling it legitimate, and the issues of integrity will be forgotten forever because it would then be termed an art. Moreover, whats the problem if an Australian University cleared Ajmal and the ICC endorsed it?
Its not hard to recall a similar situation happening 20 years ago when Warne came to the scene and was hailed instead of Qadir who was the original and deadlier master of spin and secondly when the world picked the science of swing after 2Ws were questioned for their integrity in 1992 tour of England.
Doosra has already destroyed pak cricket
Whether its destroyed Pakistan cricket or not I am not sure,but definitely Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t knows where to keep his bat when Saeed Ajmal is bowling.Kevin Pietersen and his fellow England team mates were looking jokes infront of doosra.Hold on they were even struggling with Abdul Rehman and Hafeez.So not even Doosra even Pehla was headache for them .
people listen its pakistani bowling, remember it was first the two W’s who were called cheats because of the reverse swing now every tom,dick and herry knows how to bowel the reverse swing then the two A’s for spot fixing and now saeed ajmal for chuking so relax people just keep it up
ICC is liberal in this case. It is very much a borderline case. I think knowing Pakistanis tendency to find a conspiracy in everything, ICC has chosen to exploit the grey areas and let Saeed Ajmal continue.
The action is legal the problem for the batsman is the guy is too good.
Had their (Ajmal and Hafeez) action been suspect even by a shred of one percent, they would have banned them by now. They simply can’t digest success by our cricketers, but they don’t find anything against them. Don’t try to support them just for no reason.
Integrity of Australian Cricket :O ??? Lol
Doosra might be effective, the rules of 15 Degrees allow it. But, for me, not fun to watch.
I rather watch Shane Warne bowl those beautiful drifters or Kaneria bowl those authentic googlies or Daniel Vettori flummux the batsmen with his guile and accuracy.
Effective doesn’t translate to guile and beauty.
That is why to this day Shane Warne is considered the best spin bowler of all time, above Muralidharan. Some people attribute it to racism, but watch the Ashes series where Shane Warne spins the web around English batsmen, you will be convinced.
I am a Pakistani but I do suspect the bowling actions of Saeed and Hafeez. We should admit it and take remedial measures before the whole world starts criticising us. Please watch their bowling actions from side view. Theirs are not flowing arm actions. You will notice them ‘stopping’ just before delivering the ball. Thats is the point where they bend their arms and use the strength of elbow (not the whole arm) to deliver the ball.
If the ICC says their action is alright, it shouldn’t matter what others say. The action is legal and I don’t have a problem with it.
How come you like ICC now. Just recently most of us Pakistanis were objecting to his exclusion from ICC test player of the year award blaming ICC for wrong decision.
‘Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, the highest-profile bowler of the delivery today, was cleared by the International Cricket Council in 2009 after his action was thoroughly tested by an Australian University.’ What part of this you didn’t understand?
Buddy they have been cleared by ICC do you think that if there was even a hint of suspect action they would be allowed to bowl by the ICC and teams like England and Australia won’t be making any noise especially since he is a Pakistani?
Why not legalise it! Why nobody challenges actions of fast bowler? Because it needs brutal strength and no art in it. Reverse swing art came from Asia. Any spinner Australians feel threatened, is under microscope!!
What bible did the 15 degree rule come from ?
From when the ICC were investigating Murali and realised that Aussi bowlers were straightening the elbow far more than him.
have a look to the pic of ajmal in this column.. thats a chucking stance… look at his elbow, thats bended below 14 degrees… and explains the uncertaintly about his doosra legitimacy. I think saqlain was a much better bowler of doosras.
That pic does not tell you anything, it is showing his right arm at the initial position in his action. He still has to rotate it before he delivers the ball!!
Thats his stance before he swings his arm. lol
ok agreed i jumped the gun too soon, however there’s still some doubts at his stance while delivering the bowl… if you guys watch him from side angle he does raises few doubts.. guess if he works towards that, he can be a even better bowler… for me saqlain will always take the toast for doosras… i loved his hattrick balls in that worldcup wherein he fooled the opposition without any doubts.
search yahoo images for Saeeds bowling action and you will find a couple of images that suggest his action is suspect. Also, as noticed by Bob Willis, most often he doesn’t bowl wearing half-sleeve shirts. Maybe he wants to hide his bent elbow at the time of delivering the ball.
Grapes are Sour
I smell jealousy, that’s all.