Harbhajan Singh's action reported

[DT8]

22 degrees seems a bit excessive. I thought it would be a pretty obvious chuck if its 22 degrees.

 

[Deja moo]

If its 22 degrees, its obviously beyond current allowances, and he must undergo corrective action.

Obviously Harbhajan and Saqlain bowl the doosra in a different way to Murali, and the two cannot be compared. Muralis Doosra is bowled with flex below the recommended allowances, and hence is legal.

I cannot see how the two can be compared.

 

[Craig]

That would be kinda hard to do cause people do like to use that ball and it would make a lot of people upset if they did that.

And how many actually bowl it in international cricket? What is the point in having a ball if it gets proven that one chucks it?

You can't please everyone.

 

[DT8]

Well 22 degrees is a lot. Murali got his down from 14 to 10 so I'm sure Harbajan could as well.

 

[andyc]

There was another article on it, this time on SMH (Sydney Morning Herald):

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said: "Having closely reviewed the action Harbhajan Singh employs during this delivery, the match officials decided to report the bowler to the ICC and, in line with the protocol, notified the India team management of this course of action."
He added: "Harbhajan Singh will now work with an expert team over the next six weeks to address these concerns. He can continue to play international cricket and cannot be reported again during this period."

 

[SJS]

well it is a cheat if its outside the rules? where is your problem?

I think the way the law is framed at the moment, it is not fair to call any one a cheat. If 14.9 degrees flex is okay and 15.1 degree is not, surely you can, at best call them legal and illegal deliveries not measures of honesty and dishonesty.

Coming to Harbhajan being called, its impossible to bowl the doosra without bending and then straightening the arm so its a throw by the old law anyway. By the new law its a delivery that could transgress the limit !! Stupid law

 

[Son Of Coco]

Could the answer be in banning the ball all together?

No, that would be a bit stupid. How can someone say that because two people have been found to exceed the limit with it everyone that ever tries it will? These two bowlers already had questions about their action beforehand so how is it any surprise, or the balls fault?

 

[GotSpin]

Could the answer be in banning the ball all together?

Oh yeah I would also like the yorker banned, it gets me out a few times.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

After the legal limit was changed to 15 degrees after Murali was recorded at 14.5 in lab conditions with his doosra, I wonder if Harbhajan might attempt to make a case to have the limit increased to say 22.5 or 25 degrees.

 

[DT8]

15 degrees has been suggested by leading biomechanics since 2001 or 2002. To say the law has been changed for one man is just wrong.

 

[Buddhmaster]

Oh yeah I would also like the yorker banned, it gets me out a few times.

Yes, let's start a ban the yorker campaign.

 

[Langeveldt]

And now watch Singh become the next 'dirty cheat' to half the people on this forum.

If he's breaking the rules, the chances are, he is a cheat..

 

[telsor]

It doesn't matter. If it's found to be illegal, they'll just change the rules again.

 

[Jono]

This makes me a sad panda

 

[Richard]

It doesn't matter. If it's found to be illegal, they'll just change the rules again.

Why would they do that when the rules they have in draft ATM are some which finally reflect the truth of the situation, instead of false ideals?

 

[Neil Pickup]

If he's breaking the rules, the chances are, he is a cheat..

Breaking the rules isn't cheating. Overstepping is breaking the rules. A bad tackle in football is breaking the rules.

 

[Richard]

As I said in the post above yours though, it's got to do with the individual action, not the ball. Well, as far as I'm concerned it does anyway. You can ban someone simply cause they bowl a ball that someone else with a suspected bad action does.

My point was that they bowl it in exactly the same way - so people are bound to start saying Saqlain must be bowling it illegally too.
Well, except of course for the fact that no-one gives a flying f**k about a bowler who's not hurting their team ATM.

 

[Richard]

Breaking the rules isn't cheating. Overstepping is breaking the rules. A bad tackle in football is breaking the rules.

Overstepping isn't breaking the rules - no-balls aren't illegal balls, they're simply deliveries that don't count towards the over and can't take wickets.
A bad tackle in football is breaking the rules and if anyone does it deliberately it's blatant cheating - such as the Keane-Haaland incident (for which he was rightly condemned) and the proverbial (and mercifully not yet experienced) 94th-minute-with-team-1-0-up-in-World-Cup-final-with-player-through-on-goal-and-brought-down-with-player-sacrificing-red-card-to-stop-goal incident.

 

[Richard]

And how many actually bowl it in international cricket? What is the point in having a ball if it gets proven that one chucks it?

You can't please everyone.

I'm not sure where this perception that you have to chuck to bowl a Doosra comes from.
No-one's ever said you have to chuck to bowl a Googly, or a Flipper, or an arm-ball, or a back-of-the-hand slower-ball, etc.
It's perfectly possible to bowl it legally as far as I can tell.
Personally I can't fathom how they bowl it legally or illegally, but neither can most of us, otherwise everyone'd be bowling it.

 

[Richard]

Well 22 degrees is a lot. Murali got his down from 14 to 10 so I'm sure Harbajan could as well.

Except they're totally different balls.
Harbhajan is a fingerspinner, Murali is a wristspinner.