ZIMBABWE national cricket team spinner Prosper Utseya has been suspended — with immediate effect — from bowling in international cricket by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after his actions were deemed to be illegal following tests.
The ICC confirmed Utseya and Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi’s suspensions yesterday in a statement after both bowlers were tested on September 19 at Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales.
A statement from the world cricket body said: “The International Cricket Council today (yesterday) confirmed that an independent analysis has found the bowling actions of Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi and Zimbabwe’s Prosper Utseya to be illegal and, as such, both off-spinners have been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect.
“The analysis revealed that all of their deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations,” said the ICC statement yesterday.
Utseya was reported after Zimbabwe’s third One-Day-International (ODI) against South Africa at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo in August while Gazi was reported after Bangladesh’s second ODI match against West Indies in St George’s the same month.
Both players are, however, eligible to apply for a reassessment after modifying their bowling actions in accordance with clause 2.4 of the ICC’s Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported for Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions, according to the ICC.
The bans on Gazi and Utseya have taken up the number of bowlers — all off-spinners — to be barred from bowling in recent months to five.
Sachithra Senanayake, Kane Williamson and Saeed Ajmal have all been banned since July this year.
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That apart, Sunil Narine, Mohammad Hafeez, Adnan Rasool, Suryakumar Yadav and Prenelan Subrayen were all reported for suspect actions during the recent Oppo Champions League Twenty20.
Clause 2.4 reads:
2.4 Re-assessment of Player’s bowling action
2.4.1 A Player who has been suspended from bowling in International Cricket under these Regulations shall be permitted under the supervision and with the consent of his Home Board to continue to play domestic cricket. 2.4.2 Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2.4.5 and paragraph 2.5 below, a Player who has been suspended from bowling in International Cricket under these Regulations, may at any time apply to the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action. 2.4.3 Such re-assessment shall be carried out in the same manner as the Independent Analysis referred to in paragraph 2.2 above save that the purpose of the comparison between the re-assessed action and the action of the Player as employed in the Match in which he was reported shall be to determine the extent, if any, of the improvement to his bowling action. 2.4.4 In the event of such re-assessment concluding that the Player has remedied his bowling action and that his bowling action is no longer an Illegal Bowling Action the Player’s suspension shall be lifted and he shall be permitted to continue bowling in International Cricket forthwith. 2.4.5 The Bowling Review Group (BRG) shall have the discretion to specify a fixed period before the expiry of which the Player shall not be entitled to approach the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action in terms hereof. Such discretion shall only be exercised in the instance of a frivolous application for a BRG hearing and the maximum period so specified shall be 1 year. 2.4.6 The Independent Assessment resulting from the re-assessment will stand in the place of the original Independent Assessment, and the provisions of paragraphs 2.2.10, 2.2.11, 2.2.12 and 2.2.14 and paragraph 2.3 will apply in respect of it. Recent drive against faulty actions (Cricinfo) October 2014 — Sohag Gazi suspended from bowling after being reported in August September 2014 — Sunil Narine, Mohammad Hafeez, Adnan Rasool, Suryakumar Yadav and Prenelan Subrayen were reported for suspect actions in CLT20 August 2014 — Prosper Utseya reported, banned August 2014 — Saeed Ajmal reported, banned in September July 2014 — Kane Williamson banned after tests found his action illegal July 2014 — Sachithra Senanayake banned, undergoes remedial work December 2013 — Shane Shillingford suspended from bowling, cleared in March 2014; Marlon Samuels prohibited from bowling quicker deliveries October 2013 — Johan Botha cleared by Cricket Australia after being reported during a domestic match May 2013 — ECB suspends Glenn Querl, Jack Taylor from bowling April 2013 — CA bars seamer Cameron Gannon — Sports Editor/Cricinfo
