Malcom Waller suspended

Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe national team batsman Malcom Waller was yesterday suspended from bowling in international cricket after his bowling action was found to be illegal by the International Cricket Council. The International Cricket Council yesterday confirmed that an independent analysis found the bowling action of Zimbabwe’s Waller to be illegal and, as such, the off-spinner has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect.

The analysis revealed that all of his off-spin deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.

Waller was reported after the second Test against Bangladesh in Khulna last month.

The analysis was performed by the ICC’s accredited team of Human Movement Specialists at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria on 7 December.

Waller can apply for a re-assessment after modifying his bowling action in accordance with clause 2.4 of the Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions.

The middle-order batsman, who has been named in Zimbabwe’s provisional 30-man World Cup squad, has been used as a bowling option frequently in the last 12 months and in his last one-day international against South Africa in September bowled a full complement of 10 overs.

He is the second Zimbabwean to be found guilty of illegal bowling action after former skipper Prosper Utseya whose action was also found to be faulty following a remedial in South Africa earlier this month.

Utseya was banned from bowling off-spin while the analysts cleared him to continue with the slow medium deliveries which were found to be acceptable.

Nine off-spinners, including Waller’s Zimbabwe team-mate Utseya, have been reported to the ICC for illegal actions in the last 13 months.