Malik and Ahmed reported

Pakistan bowling duo Shoaib Malik and Shabbir Ahmed have had their bowling actions reported to the ICC, following Pakistan’s victory over England in the first test.

Both have been reported before, and have undergone work on their actions to make them legal. Their actions will now be analysed by the ICC’s human movement specialists, and if the actions are deemed to be illegal they will be suspended, in Shabbir’s case it would be for 12 months without re-assessment, as he has recently returned from a previous suspension.

The pair will still be allowed to bowl in the current series with England, while the analysis takes place. The umpires in the match, Billy Bowden and Simon Taufel were satisfied with Shabbir’s action during the early part of the match, but felt it began to deteriorate from day 3 onwards, particularly when bowling “effort” balls and short-pitched deliveries. With regard to Malik, they felt they could sometimes see an extension of his elbow when he was bowling.