Waller’s bowling questioned

Mehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
AS if losing the second Test to Bangladesh which handed the Tigers a series win with one more match to go was not enough, Zimbabwe part-time off spin bowler Malcolm Waller has been reported for questionable bowling action.Zimbabwe lost the second Test match to Bangladesh by 162 runs on the fifth day in Khulna on Friday; a result which means the home team has already sealed the series with one more match to be played.

According to an International Cricket Council Press release, Waller was reported by the match officials at the conclusion of the second Test with the umpires in their report raising concerns over the legality of the spinner’s bowling action.

This means Waller, who took six wickets in the five day match now has to undergo testing within 21 days at an ICC approved testing centre. For now, the 30-year-old Waller is permitted to continue bowling in international cricket until the results are known.

Waller becomes the second Zimbabwe bowler to be nailed for an illegal bowling action this year after Prosper Utseya was reported during the third ODI against South Africa at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on 21 August. Utseya, a former Zimbabwe captain was banned from bowling after undergoing tests at the Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales where all his deliveries were found to exceed the ICC’s 15-degree limit for bowlers.

Utseya was subsequently left out of Zimbabwe’s tour of Bangladesh and is undergoing remedial work on his bowling action in South Africa at the moment after which an application will be made to the ICC for his re-assessment. The bowler is hoping to be given the green light by the world cricket governing body to bowl again in time for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup which gets underway in February next year in Australia and New Zealand.

Of late international cricket umpires have been clamping down on bowlers with dubious bowling actions, especially off spinners which has seen bans being handed out to Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal, Utseya, Sohag Gazi of Bangladesh, New Zealander Kane Williamson, Shane Shillingford from West Indies and Sachithra Senanayake of Sri Lanka.