Bird suspended by CA
25 February, 2009
Cricket Australia has suspended New South Wales bowler Aaron Bird after the paceman was found to have displayed an illegal action under the Cricket Australia Doubtful Bowling Action Procedures.
Bird was reported by match umpires following the Ford Ranger Cup matches against Queensland and South Australia in October, and the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Final against Victoria in January, as displaying a doubtful bowling action with some of his deliveries.
Under CA's policy on doubtful actions any bowler who is mentioned by three different umpires in the same season is reported.
Bird was made to undergo an analysis of his bowling at the Australian Institute of Sport two weeks ago and the assessment report found that not all of his deliveries complied with the allowable elbow extension tolerance of 15 degrees.
The 25-year-old has been suspended from interstate competitions for a minimum of 90 days, at which point he will have to complete a biomechanical analysis that demonstrates his action is legal.
"Although I am obviously disappointed with the result, the findings of the analysis showed that all but one of my deliveries complied with the elbow extension allowed," Bird said.
"I will now go away with the coaching staff and analyse the test findings and make any adjustments required to make sure that I am ready to go in 90 days time. I am confident that this will only be a temporary setback."
Cricket NSW chief execute David Gilbert agreed with the bowler that it will only be a temporary setback.
"Although this is disappointing news for Aaron, we fully support him and will be doing everything we can to assist him in his remedial work so that he can be bowling again as soon as possible," he said.
"Aaron is an important member of our squad and we will provide all the assistance needed to help him over the 90 day period that he will spend working on the issues highlighted in the report."
Bird will miss the Blues' last two Shield matches against the Bulls and the Warriors and the final should they make it.