Shoaib Akhtar, barred from test cricket because of a suspect bowling action, will not be allowed to return for Pakistan’s forthcoming test series against Sri Lanka.
International Cricket Council (ICC) President Jagmohan Dalmiya said the decision of the council’s panel that found Akhtar’s action incorrect would be reviewed by an executive board meeting in Singapore on Wednesday and Thursday. The ICC’s cricket committee is to meet on Tuesday.
“We are not looking at the technicality of the issue, rather the procedural part of it,” Dalmiya said.
“The ICC is fully behind the panel which found Akhtar’s delivery action incorrect. We are only going to review the procedural part as found incorrect by Pakistan.”
Pakistan has claimed that the panel which found Akhtar’s bowling action incorrect lacked the required minimum number to take a decision.
Akhtar was banned by the ICC on December 30 but Dalmiya reversed the decision on January 8.
Akhtar was allowed to play limited-overs cricket but his return to test matches is subject to clearance by an advisory panel.
Akhtar, whose bowling action was questioned during a test series in Australia last year, was allowed to play in a triangular limited-overs tournament involving Pakistan, India and Australia.
The ICC permitted that on the ground that bouncers, the delivery identified by the ICC’s committee on illegal bowling actions as Akhtar’s most contentious, were not allowed in one- day matches.
Shoaib’s action might need correction but without a shadow of doubt the ICC committee members need a brain transplant.
[This message has been edited by ehsan (edited February 07, 2000).]
