West Indian off-spinner Shane Shillingford was today suspended by the International Cricket Council after his bowling action was deemed to be illegal.
Shillingford suspended for throwing
An independent biomechanical revealed that for both Shillingford's standard off-break delivery and his doosra, the amount of elbow extension in his bowling action exceeded the 15 degrees' level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions.
The 30-year-old is suspended from bowling in international cricket until such time that he has submitted to a fresh analysis, which concludes that he has remedied his bowling action.
Meanwhile, the independent biomechanical analysis of the bowling action of Marlon Samuels concluded that his standard off-break delivery was bowled with a legal action, but that his quicker deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees’ level of tolerance and thus, were considered to be illegal.
While Samuels is allowed to continue to bowl his standard off-break delivery in international cricket, he is not permitted to bowl his quicker deliveries.
The independent analyses of Shillingford and Samuels were performed by Associate Professor Jacque Alderson and her team at the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, The University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth on November 29.
The players have the right to appeal against UWA’s conclusions to the Bowling Review Group. Should they choose to appeal, they must lodge written notification with the ICC within 14 days.
Shillingford and Samuels were reported at the end of the second day’s play in the Mumbai Test against India last month by on-field umpires Richard Kettleborough and Nigel Llong, TV Umpire Vineet Kulkarni and Andy Pycroft of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.
Both bowlers have previously been reported and suspended from bowling in international cricket after their bowling actions were found to be illegal. They were, however, allowed to resume bowling in international cricket after they underwent remedial work on their bowling actions and further testing.
Shillingford was reported in November 2010 and resumed bowling in June 2011, while Samuels was reported in February 2008 and resumed bowling in September 2011.