Sadly, Murali just doesn't get it. Surely he realises "all those new rules about how many degrees a bowler's arm is allowed to bend" have been introduced to advantage him.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you....
I'll bowl my doosra: Murali
FURIOUS Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is contemplating risking a year's ban from the game today by bowling his banned doosra in the second Test against Zimbabwe.
Muralitharan told The Daily Telegraph last night he was consulting with his lawyers over his right to bowl the delivery which the International Cricket Council has declared illegal following scientific tests by the University of Western Australia in Perth.
If Muralitharan bowls the delivery and gets reported today he could face a year suspension under newly introduced ICC legislation.
"I just want a fair deal," Muralitharan said from Bulawayo in his first public comment since the ban was handed down.
"I want to bowl it [today] but I will have to talk to my lawyers. I feel I have been harassed unfairly.
"I will fight for my rights. I don't think it is right to bring in all those new rules about how many degrees a bowler's arm is allowed to bend and then test only one spinner.
"Why are they not testing other spinners around the world? Why is it just me?
"I have read about a study in Australia where every fast bowler tested is said to have an action where their arm straightens. Only by testing other spinners can they make a judgment on me. Yet I am the only one officially tested.
"How can you ban the doosra? I want to bowl it for the team and for the coach. I want to bowl it [today] but I will have to see whether it will put my career at risk."
Scientific tests have ruled that Muralitharan's arm bends up to 14 degrees in delivering the mystical delivery, which turns from leg to off. Under new legislation, spinners are allowed a five-degree level of tolerance, medium pacers 7.5 degrees and fast bowlers 10 degrees.
Sri Lanka coach John Dyson said he would not instruct Muralitharan, who is battling a finger injury and must pass a fitness test before play, not to bowl the doosra.
"I won't be instructing Murali to do anything," Dyson said. "I have had no official contact with the ICC. Murali is Murali. We haven't even talked about this."
Muralitharan was instructed by the Sri Lankan Board not to bowl the delivery in the first Test against a woeful Zimbabwe side missing a group of senior players who have been sacked after a contract dispute.
But as a gesture of defiance, he bowled it regularly and took several wickets with it on the way to eclipsing West Indies' Courtney Walsh (519) as the game's highest wicket-taker.
Muralitharan was reported by match referee Chris Broad following the three-Test series against Australia in March.
Under ICC laws, he could not be reported again for a six-week period, which ended at midnight last night.
Match referee Mike Procter faces the most important match of his career as he casts an eye over the wily champion and decides what course of action should be taken if the spinner bowls cricket's most controversial ball.
My bet is the wily champion won't risk it, but one wonders with what sort of intensity the TV cameras will now focus on his action. The cricket world -- those that can see the match, anyway -- will be watching intently.
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