Saeed Ajmal has sought clarification from the International Cricket Council on their calculation methods before a proposed re-testing of the Pakistan off-spinner’s bowling action next week.
The 37-year-old argues that he should be given extra leeway when examined due to a medical condition – his bowling arm already possesses an exaggerated bend due to an accident earlier in life. Under previous protocol, he says, an eight to 11 degree provision was afforded to such individuals.
Ajmal, who has been suspended since his bowling was proved to be illegal for all types of deliveries at the ICC’s Brisbane testing centre in September, has undergone extensive remedial work with the former Pakistan and Surrey spinner Saqlain Mushtaq over the past two months. It has resulted in significant improvements: while Ajmal’s official test showed an average 42 degree extension of the elbow, three subsequent unofficial tests – the first in Lahore and the other two in Loughborough – have encouraged him he can fulfil his dream of playing at the World Cup, which starts in February.
The last unofficial test was conducted earlier this week and while his quicker ball revealed an average of six to seven degrees of straightening and his conventional off-spinner was clocked between nine and 12 degrees, his doosra remained some way above the 15-degree level of tolerance.
It was Ajmal’s doosra – the ball delivered out of the back of the hand that leaves the right-handed batsman – that raised suspicion in mid-2009 when he was reported during the one-day series with Australia but subsequently cleared to continue bowling in international cricket by Bruce Elliott, a member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists. It appears to be those tests in Perth that Ajmal is referring to in relation to the special dispensation he now seeks for ‘an unusual elbow’.
Pakistan retain confidence that the extensive corrections made to Ajmal’s action will not diminish his threat at the highest level and included him in their provisional 30-man squad for February’s World Cup. They have been granted an extended deadline of 11 January, 2015, to confirm their final list of 15 names.
When reported in August during a Test against Sri Lanka, Ajmal was the highest profile bowler of a pre-tournament purge; ranked in the top 10 across all formats and No1 in one-day internationals. No individual had taken as many international wickets as the combined 284 he managed in the preceding three years.
Next Monday has been pencilled in as the day for the official re-test to take place but that might depend upon what comes out of his dialogue with ICC officials.
The Nottinghamshire all-rounder Steven Mullaney has agreed a contract extension until the end of the 2017 season. The 28-year-old helped Notts win the 2010 County Championship title following his move from Lancashire and he was named the county’s player of the year in 2013.
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