Spin doctor in rehab

How’s this for leading us all up the garden path?

A couple of weeks ago when match referee Chris Broad reported Muralitharan for ‘throwing’ his doosra against Australia, it was widely reported that the ICC had issued an instruction to stop Muttiah bowling that cunning weapon.

Upon my arrival in Zimbabwe for the recent first Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, I immediately looked to clarify the situation as I felt that the ICC’s stance was unfair on an individual who had if fact bowled that delivery for eight years. It interested me also that since touchdown in Zimbabwe Murali had made no effort whatsoever to adhere to the demands of the governing body and was collecting wickets with his clever delivery as if they were going out of fashion. Imagine my surprise when the team management informed me that they had not received any official documentation or order from the ICC as to the above.

How confusing is that! Where did these stories come from that were hogging the headlines in all major newspapers and cricketing websites?

As I scanned the various stories this morning I see that now the Sri Lankan Cricket Board has advised Murali to put the ‘doosra’ back in the cupboard until further notice. I hope this has been reported correctly!

Following extensive tests recently held at the University of Western Australia it has been discovered that the elbow angle in delivery of ‘the other one’ exceeds the tolerance levels recently introduced. A spinner is ‘supposedly’ permitted a five degree tolerance level in delivery and it was revealed that Murali’s angle is somewhat excessive at fourteen degrees.

Why have these results taken weeks to be published?!

So, eventually it appears the correct channels have been followed and, as suspected by most, his unique delivery seems to have been proven suspect. It will be very interesting to see if he pushes the envelope and continues to bowl it, and if so what happens. It will also be fascinating to see if, now that he is restricted in his weaponry, how effective he will be. It will be a completely different prospect facing the ‘spin doctor’ as a right-hander in the knowledge that he is not permitted to fizz one past the outside edge of your bat at will.

It still seems a little farcical to me that the world record holder is suddenly chopped off at the elbow (so to speak) after nearly a decade of mesmerizing batsmen all over the globe with that particular ball.

I wonder if Murali is as confused as the rest of us?

Could this have been handled better…… you bet it could have!