Tony BeccaONE OF the problems in cricket these days is the number of bowlers who are throwing instead of bowling.
In fact, when one considers the danger of throwing and the number of bowlers who have been reported for throwing or whose action is suspect, it is more than a problem. It is the big problem.
Although throwing is nothing new, what is happening in cricket these days is unprecedented. Right around the world, in every country, there is at least one thrower, and unlike days gone by when the throwers, the 'chuckers', were mostly fast bowlers, today that is not so.
Whatever the reason, today there is no difference in the number of fast bowlers who throw and the number of spin bowlers who throw. In fact, the offspinners who throw and the orthodox left-arm spinners who throw are so many that they may well outnumber the fast bowlers who throw.
Things have become so bad that the ICC has been attempting to deal with the problem, and one of those attempts takes place in Dubai this week at a meeting involving five former Test cricketers Aravinda de Silva, Angus Fraser, Michael Holding, Tony Lewis and Tim May, the ICC's general manager cricket, David Richardson and human movement specialists Dr. Paul Hurrion, Professor Bruce Elliott and Dr. Marc Portus.
CONSIDERING FINDINGS
According to the ICC, the meeting is a follow up on its research project carried out at the recent ICC Champions Trophy tournament in England, it will consider the findings of that research, look at other existing research on bowling actions, and make recommendations to the ICC in November when it meets to discuss what it calls "flawed bowling actions".
Apart from looking at the problem and how to correct it, the Dubai meeting will also review the ICC's system of dealing with what it refers to as "potentially flawed bowling actions", and the word is that the members are ready to accommodate flawed actions depending on the degree of 'straightening' as it relates to different types of bowlers to those who bowl slow, those who bowl medium-pace, and to those who bowl fast.
In its definition of a fair delivery, however, Law 24, section 3, states simply that "a ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler's arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand", and that seems simple enough for every one to understand.
In putting the law together years ago, the guardians of the game must have done so with the interest of the game in mind, apart from the unfair advantage gained by any bowler who throws the ball, that interest must have included the protection of batsmen against fast bowlers who throw the ball.
HIGHEST PERFORMANCE
Instead of changing the law, instead of experimenting with a certain degree of 'straightening' for slow bowlers, a certain degree of 'straightening' for medium-pace bowlers and a certain degree of 'straightening' for fast bowlers, the guardians of the game today should simply let the umpires do their job at the highest level and insist that they do it at all levels.
Apart from the fact that throwers are not called at the Test level and the first-class level, one reason why so many bowlers are throwing at the highest level is because they were allowed to get away with it at the levels below.
The only way to solve the problem, the only to way stop bowlers from throwing, the only way to prevent 'chuckers' getting into Test cricket, is to stop them, to correct them, or to weed them out at the school level and the club level.
And the only way to do that is to call them for throwing whenever they throw.
Once the ball is thrown and not bowled, there is a procedure of warning and action similar to that of other acts of unfair play, and instead of shirking his duty, the umpire, starting from the lowest level, should follow it.
The law is the law, the umpire should follow the law, and on top of that, the umpire who refuses to call no-ball for a suspect action, for a ball that has been thrown, at the lowest level is simply contributing to the breeding of throwers.
