Mohammad Hafeez Takes a Dig at ICC for the Rules Surrounding Suspect Bowling Action

Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has taken a dig at International Cricket Council (ICC). It comes after a couple of weeks that Hafeez has been cleared by the body to bowl. He was earlier reported for a suspect action and was later set free. He can start bowling immediately from the next assignment of Pakistan.

This was the 3^rd time that Hafeez was summoned by the ICC. The all-rounder being upset at the repeated inspections took a dig at the ICC and claimed that they must imply proper guidelines in place. It will further hekp them identify the bowlers with suspect actions. Hafeez further stated that the decisions taken by the ICC are being influenced by the relations they have with certain boards.

“There are so many things influencing all this [who gets called for suspect actions], it has a lot to do with the power of [some] boards and nobody wants to take them on,” Hafeez was quoted as saying by BBC Urdu.

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“Mostly there are soft corners and relations between people which no one wants to spoil. What I say is why not implement the rule and get every bowler in the world to go through [testing]. What’s the difficulty in that?”

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Meanwhile, it must be noted that unlike the other advancements in cricket like hawk-eye, snickometre, ultra edge etc. However, a bowler’s action is only referred to as suspect by the on-field umpires. There is no advanced technology involved and solely depends on the naked eye of the on-field umpire. Hafeez criticized the move. He further stated that with the margin permissible up to 15 degrees, it is pretty impossible for the naked eye to track every ball with same precision.

How can one be so sure with the naked eye says Hafeez

“When match umpires called me (for a suspect bowling action), I went for my test only to find the flex was recorded up to 16, 17 and 18 degrees,” said Hafeez. He was suspected for suspect action last year.

“I was surprised: how can anyone with the naked eye see flex from 15 to 16, and at times they are not able to call those whose flex is 25 and even 30-plus.

“So I have my doubts about this calling system. This is suspicious, why are match referees or on-field umpires not able to see those flexing up to 35 but me with 16 degrees.”

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