Murali's Doosra On Way Out

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Murali's doosra on way out
By Jon Pierik
April 26, 2004

THE dodgy doosra may just about be dead.

THE dodgy doosra may just about be dead. The demise of Muthiah Muralitharan's controversial delivery could be hastened after the Sri Lankan Cricket Board yesterday passed on the official report into his action to the International Cricket Council.

The cricket world was becoming impatient with the board after its bowling review committee deliberated for a long time and then leaked several findings from the study into the doosra conducted by the University of Western Australia, which earlier this month examined the off-spinner's action.

While the findings have yet to be officially released -that should happen this week after the ICC reads the report - they should reveal Muralitharan uses an arm flex of almost 10 degrees to bowl the delivery, five degrees more than the legal limit.

Sri Lankan board president Mohan de Silva confirmed the UWA report had been handed to ICC general manager, cricket, David Richardson.

"The report from the University of Western Australia was sent with the observations of the bowling review group to the ICC," de Silva said.

Richardson will pass on the findings to match referees and umpires.

Muralitharan, who needs seven wickets in two Tests against Zimbabwe this month to break Courtney Walsh's Test record of 519, has been able to bowl his doosra in the preceding one-day series.

Once the findings are released, he will either have to scrap the delivery, learn to bowl it within the legal arm bend of five degrees or continue bowling the ball and risk being reported again and suspended from cricket for up to 12 months.

Match referee Chris Broad expressed his concern over the legality of the doosra by reporting Muralitharan after the third Test against Australia in Colombo last month.

The Daily Telegraph


cheers bryan..!!