ICC clears actions of Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed that following remedial work and retests, the bowling actions of Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi of Bangladesh have been found to be legal, and the players can now resume bowling in international cricket. In advance of any retest, a player who has been banned from bowling in international cricket, is required to identify the various types of deliveries he wants assessed, with a view to bowling those types of deliveries in international cricket should they be tested as legal. [caption id=“attachment_2047517” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Saeed Ajmal. AFP[/caption] At the retests, it was revealed that the amount of elbow extensions in both the off-spinners’ bowling actions for all their deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions. The umpires are still at liberty to report Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi in the future if they believe they are displaying a suspect action and not reproducing the legal actions from the retests. To assist the umpires they have been provided with images and video footage of the two bowlers’ significantly remodeled legal bowling actions. The retests were performed at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai on 24 January. Saeed Ajmal was reported after the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle in August, while Sohag Gazi was also reported in August after the second One-Day International against West Indies in Grenada. Both Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi failed the initial tests, which were performed on 25 August at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, and on 19 September at the Cardiff Metropolitan University, respectively.