November 14 Thursday 2002
ICC ducks chucking issue, says former Test referee

SYDNEY: Former Test referee Barry Jarman said the International Cricket Council was ducking the "chucking" issue, which he believed to be endemic in the game.

The former Australian Test wicketkeeper said he once he reported Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for a suspect bowling action and as a result never again officiated in a match involving Sri Lanka. Australian umpire Darrell Hair will officiate in his first Sri Lanka match this southern summer since the final of the one-day triangular 
series in 1995-96.

That was the same season Hair no-balled Muralitharan seven times in three overs in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Muralitharan is the most high-profile "chucking" case, but he is not the only bowler to have fallen foul of the chucking rule.

Cricket's laws state the bowling arm must not straighten in delivery, but Jarman is convinced such movement is rife. "There are a lot of them around in almost all the sides now. All the players know about them. Right now, as the law stands, they do not bowl legally," Jarman said in a magazine article on Wednesday. "If he (Muralitharan) and others partially straighten their arm it's illegal. "I knew it was going to happen, but it's too hot to handle. You bring it up in a meeting and they (the ICC) don't want to know about it."

Jarman, who was a match referee through to the 2000-01 season and handled Sri Lanka's Test series in New Zealand in 1994-95, said: "I've never been asked to do a game involving Sri Lanka since."

Muralitharan and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar have been reported in the past but were found to have abnormalities in their bowling arm which led to their actions appearing suspect. Sri Lankan Ruchira Perera bowled throughout this year's Lord's Test against England under increasing scrutiny from fans and media, without being called for throwing.

However, after the game ICC match referee Gundappa Viswanath confirmed umpires Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Daryl Harper had reported the young left-arm seamer after studying his action on video. The 25-year-old was allowed to continue bowling.