AGB Cricket

BACK-CHUCK BACK-FLIP

An assumption: the Saeed Ajmal "back-chuck" blithely dismissed by Spanky Roebuck in today's Age is a ball delivered front-on with the forearm and palm facing away from the batsmen; the arm then flicks forward as if the bowler is flicking a yo-yo away from his face.

Lacklustre Pakistan allows Australia to take early honours

Saeed Ajmal bowled tidily enough but relied too much on his doosra. Bowlers depending on their "other one" for wickets are more comfortably countered than those armed with a formidable main delivery. Ajmal's doosra looks legal under any law, ancient or modern. At worst it is a back chuck, and the laws were not aimed at them. The offie bowled long spells, dropped shorter as the day wore on and suffered the consequences. Spinners are not supposed to be put away square of the wickets as often as the Pakistani.

For Spanky to shrug off Saeed Ajmal's doosra as "at worst a back chuck, and the laws were not aimed at them" is nonsense bordering on a bare-faced lie.

Of course the laws are aimed at the back-chuck, and Spanky knows it. The laws are intended to restrict every action to within 15 degrees of elbow flex.

But, is Spanky really so sanguine about his back-chuck? His current cosy acceptance directly contradicts something he wrote about Murali's doosra in 2004:

Murali must chuck out the doosra

This delivery is an extension of a ball that has been in his repertoire for years. In effect, it is a back chuck because the elbow does straighten.

Undoubtedly the delivery is to be declared illegal, and rightly so, because it is ugly and the elbow does straighten.

Spectators can see the straightening with the naked eye. It was more obvious in Colombo because Murali was tired and then a man's action always deteriorates.

2004: undoubtedly illegal.

2009: the laws were not aimed at them.

I've got a hunch, a well researched hunch, backed by statistics, witness statements and a fly on a wall. Off mike, the commentators have been shit-canning Ajmal's doosra, so Spanky has decided to get in first with his contrary opinion.

(Well spotted, Saggs.)

DOOS & DON'TS

Pod for Hewy.

(Is "that guy from Pakistan, who just chucks it" Saeed Ajmal?)

THE DOOZRA

So Krazy has unveiled a doosra, has he?

Krejza hopes for more doosra victims

Anticipation meanwhile builds about off-spinner Jason Krejza's ability to serve up another doosie of a doosra as his Australian selection rival Nathan Hauritz tilts at the West Indies.

Skipper George Bailey, who'll play his 50th Shield match for Tasmania against the Redbacks, says the doosra Krejza bowled to dismiss NSW's Usman Khawaja last week is the best delivery he's ever seen.

One respected Sydney scribe described its deadly emergence as the most significant delivery by an Australian spinner since the retirement of Shane Warne.

Has anyone seen the delivery?

Krazy bowling a doosra is certainly "significant" and the "anticipation" for his next one, or rather, next other one, is no surprise, but my first thoughts when I heard about how he'd skittled Khawaja weren't "doosie" or "best delivery" or "Warne ball". They were more like Terry Jenner's:

Krejza adds doosra to spin campaign

Australian leg-spin guru Terry Jenner has been sceptical of Krejza's new addition, telling newspapers at the weekend that "everybody who has bowled the doosra has been reported for suspect action".

"So if Jason Krejza has miraculously discovered a way to bowl the doosra without flexing his elbow, then he's a genius," Jenner said.

But Krejza said yesterday: "I wouldn't be able to chuck it the way I bowl it, it is completely straight-armed." Krejza endured one of the great rollercoaster rides in Test cricket.

Serious question: Do you think the Aussie selectors would pick Krazy if he was bowling his doozra?

Where does that leave the "coterie of former Test spinners" who decided not to teach the doosra because "in their collective opinion, it offends the laws of the game"?

What, if any, pressure will be applied behind the scenes to keep the doosra out of Aussie cricket? Or fast track it into Aussie cricket?

It would be a farce if Australia, desperate to find the new Warne, went all Shree and suddenly embraced a bowler with a questionable delivery/action.

HARSH FAIR

Hats off to the Bhogle (and Adsy and Nick for the links) for pulling the trigger on chuckers:

Three cheers for the crackdown on chucking

So umpires in India have started calling bowlers for chucking, and it is nice to see a forgotten law being implemented. Some bowlers, especially those who have played first-class cricket for eight or 10 years, might choose to disagree with the current practice. They are entitled to be a bit confused, but really, in our part of the world we have no alternative. In law, in spirit and in fairness, bowling has to be a straight-arm exercise, and that definition has been mutilated over the years.

With fixed cameras at every first-class game, there is no place to hide anymore, and in any case the argument against unfairness suffers when confronted with the number of wickets that have been obtained with illegal actions over the years. In truth it had become an epidemic and had reached a stage where if we saw a finger spinner, rather than look at how good he was, we were overjoyed that he actually bowled with a straight arm.

Coincidentally, I was overjoyed when I first saw Manou, and then Paine, pouch pellets behind the poles instead of the Klutz.

JO BO HO...

HUM:

Botha and Theron reported for suspect actions

Warriors bowlers Johan Botha and Rusty Theron are to undergo tests in Cape Town next week after their actions were reported by the match officials during last weekend's SuperSport Series match against Dolphins at St George's.

Einstein:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

CASTER YOUR VOTE

The parallels are undeniable. "Never get between a sports administrator and a bucket of medals." But which is the more cheaty?

• Caster Semenya
• IAAF
• SAAF

• Caster Murali
• ICC
• SLC

Bonus fun: pick your next step.

Hints: misquoted, context (out of), asterisks.

Note: "Can't straighten her sexual organs" and "You are racists" have already been taken.

OOPS... I'D DO IT AGAIN

More front than Table Mountain:

I lied, but I'd do it all over again - Chuene

In a moment of high drama in the Caster Semenya affair, South Africa's top athletics official finally caved in, confessed to the nation and apologised - but he will not quit.

"I can no longer stand before you and say that I am not aware of gender tests conducted on Caster Semenya. I have just recently been made aware that (she) was sent for tests in Pretoria despite my objections to this," said a defiant Chuene.

"I felt that, at the time, I was acting in the best interests of Caster Semenya as a person.

"Show me anyone who has not lied to protect a child.

"However, I will not apologise for allowing Caster Semenya to run or for protecting her privacy and for trying to keep this matter confidential. I cannot be hypocritical about this," a visibly irritated Chuene told the National Press Club in Pretoria.

Coming soon:

"It is in Renault's best interests to crash the car." FIA

"It is in swimmer's best interests to slash world records." FINA

"It is in lineswomen's best interests to swallow fucken tennis balls." WTA

"Who has not lied to protect a chucker?" SLC

MARK HIS WORDS

Wonder if Mark Richardson will claim he was taken out of context, misquoted, "I'm sorry if I offended anyone." That would be quite some back-pedal considering he has devoted a whole article to saying Murali is a chucker:

Forget testing, he's a chucker

There is no easy way to put this, no soft way to broach it, so here goes - Muttiah Muralitharan is throwing the ball.

Doubtless he will later say that he rang Murali, and they are sweet.

Will he be sweet with Warnie?

I don't blame Murali for this situation. Murali can only do what he does - and what he does he does as a champion, and unlike the other great spinner of my time, Murali does it with good grace and gentlemanly conduct.

Nevertheless, it's always refreshing to read a professional pundit who is prepared to vent the same opinions we've been venting for years.

CHUCKTORIA

Paul Keating once said "Never get between a premier and a bucket of money." You can apply the same general thrust, and pejorative colour, to sport: "Never get between a sports administrator and a chance at a premiership."

Muralidaran confirmed starter for Bushrangers

VICTORIA'S domestic cricket campaign will have a distinct subcontinental influence this season, with the Bushrangers to boast a champion Sri Lankan spinner as a player and an Indian property developer as their major sponsor.

I've played a lot of cricket here in Victoria, and know a lot of cricketers. It's fair to say that very few of us think Murali is legal.

Couple that with our recent spin summit:

"There was unanimous agreement that the off-spinner’s ‘other-one’, the doosra, should not be coached in Australia."

Throw in the long-held belief that English cricket – or Mike Atherton's English system - has suffered because it has too many foreign players.

So, what does Victoria do? It imports a player who most everyone thinks chucks; who is the very epitome of the doosra that the gurus have sought to ban; and who, to make it a hat-trick, is foreign.

Yer gaggin', right?

As a passionate follower of Victorian cricket, even the Big Bash - which, ironically, NSW won on the back of the efforts of their own chucker Aaron Bird - I've enjoyed the few wins, and sucked up the many losses. But it's been a long time since I've had my nose rubbed it in with such vigour.

Naturally, Tony Dodemaide was spinning it to within an inch of its bottom line:

"I think this has cracked the boundaries of what state cricket was conceived as being. It's very much now on the international stage … and international companies are interested in being involved with us."

No mention of stakeholders? Lift your game. Translated, what TD is saying is basically "There are pots of loot in it for us, so it's all good."

Not good here. I'll be all over the Shield, as usual, but the KFC Big Chicken can kiss my sharries.

PREACH WAY BET?

Do you think Pulpit Patrick Smith wants his cake and eat it, too?

Regarding the 15 degree law, he has been scornful to the point of contempt:

JO-BO FIASCO

All of this does not take into account that the marker of 15 degrees is so arbitrary as to be laughable.

And:

THE PLAGUE

Ajmal bowls a beautiful doosra, which means he bends his arm more than the legal 15 degrees. Which should mean he is banned from bowling but he won't be. Which, of course, means he was born with a deformity. Which once more proves the ICC is a collection of much travelled dolts.

Yesterday, though, in striving to bolster an argument about the advances in technology in sport, he writes this about Australia's spin summit:

Why athletes must embrace technology

The fight to retain the old "straight arm" law was lost forever and Murali's place among cricket's finest is now, rightly, unchallenged. Indeed, cricket is richer for the extra skills available to finger spinners. The balance of the game has not been changed because leg-spinners and fast men alike have always had the ability to move the ball both ways.

I'm not totally comfortable with the position of Mallett and company to put a ban on teaching the doosra. You have rules, you play to them; when you can, you exploit them. Nor are Patrick's two positions mutually exclusive. But for years he has shit-canned the new chucking rules, and now, with a case to make, it's "cricket's finest, rightly, unchallenged".

COTE, UNQUOTE

Coming soon: "We were all taken out of context."

Australia turns its back on the doosra

A coterie of former Test spinners decided that they would not teach the doosra to young Australian bowlers because, in their collective opinion, it offends the laws of the game.

‘‘There was unanimous agreement that the off-spinner’s ‘other-one’, the doosra, should not be coached in Australia. I have never seen anyone actually bowl the doosra. It has to be a chuck. Until such time as the ICC declares that all manner of chucking is legal in the game of cricket, I refuse to coach the doosra. All at the spin summit agreed.’’

Purist me desperately wants to ban the doosra and chuck all the doosra bowlers out of the game.

Cynical, pragmatic, whatever-it-takes me says "When in Rome, don't be a Christian."