In a major crackdown against chucking, a senior official revealed that Pakistan on Thursday suspended 16 domestic bowlers with suspect actions following the ban of ace off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had suspended Ajmal earlier this month after he was found to straighten his elbow up to 43 degrees, well above the prescribed limit of 15. The ban jolted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) into action to avoid further international embarrassment.
Director of domestic cricket Inthikab Alam said that they have 29 bowlers reported for suspect bowling actions in the current home cricket season and half of them were reported twice, so they have banned around 16 from domestic matches, The Dawn reported.
Alam, who is a former Pakistan captain and leg-spinner, also said that all these bowlers would not be allowed to play in domestic matches and would go to the national cricket academy to get their actions altered.
To deal with the problem, the PCB has revived its biomechanics laboratory in Lahore this month after it was left nonoperational for seven years over allegations of financial irregularities in buying its machinery.
Ajmal was the seventh Pakistani reported for suspect actions in international matches, joining Shahid Afridi, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Riaz Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Shoaib Akhtar. Even the two spinners called up to replace Ajmal while he undergoes remedial work, Atif Maqbool and Adnan Rasool, have been reported.
Meanwhile, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq said that he was praying for Ajmal, who is ranked the world's best one-day bowler, to return soon. He said that first of all he would pray Ajmal returns to the team for the World Cup.
