I await the usual whines from the left -- "there goes Howard again, raving on about cricket" -- because via Simon comes notification of some very very high level support indeed.
A word of warning though, brace yourself for a disturbing last paragraph:
Murali chucks, claims Howard
MUTTIAH Muralitharan could boycott Australia this winter after Prime Minister John Howard added to the pressure on Test cricket's greatest wicket-taker yesterday by claiming he bowled with an illegal action.
The view won't be received well by Murali, who had already told friends he may quit the sport because of the controversy raging over his suspect doosra delivery.
Howard entered the Murali debate with a doosra of his own - going public with his belief that Murali is a chucker.
The PM - who former Test spinner Kerry O'Keeffe once described as the most biomechanically correct off-spinner in politics - believes it has been proven beyond doubt that the master Sri Lankan tweaker has an illegal action.
Asked at a lunchtime meeting of party faithful on the NSW South Coast if Muralitharan chucked the ball, Howard said: "Yes. They proved it in Perth too [with biomechanical tests]."
After being reported to the ICC over a suspect action, Muralitharan has been ordered to stop bowling his fearsome delivery or face being suspended for up to a year.
But he has vowed to continue bowling it.
A leaked report into the testing of Muralitharan's action has called for other off-spin bowlers to have their doosra tested.
The extensive document, e-mailed to The Daily Telegraph from the sub-continent yesterday, says the likes of India's Harbhajan Singh and Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq and Shoaib Malik should undergo the same tests as Muralitharan in the name of fairness.
Written by former West Australian coach Daryl Foster, who helped test Muralitharan, the document states that it is too early to ban the controversial delivery.
The report also confirms the rubber-wristed Muralitharan has a quicker arm rotation than many fast bowlers and that a case could be made for him to be allowed an arm flex of 14 degrees - nine more than the legal limit.
And I say test Harby. I've been suss of him since 2001, but I'm not convinced Saqlain has a case to answer.
PS: Hardly a flattering headline from Sarth Efrica: "Howard joins in Murali bashing". "Bashing"? What bashing? Guess it's more colourful than: "Howard is right".
But is it 'core' chucking or 'non-core' chucking?
Anyhow I shall be listening for our Mark's monotonic spin on this before I cast my vote. Not counting my ladders before they're hatched.
Posted by: Sedgwick | 15 May 2004 at 11:12
Apparently it's 'Core Chucking', Sedge. Mark Latham say's so. I've just rung him up.
Posted by: Tony.T | 17 May 2004 at 07:58