PCB to take disciplinary action against Hafeez for calling ICC process 'suspicious'

LAHORE: Pakistan's all-rounder Muhammad Hafeez has  come under fire after his comments, he made during an interview, over the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) process to report suspect bowling actions.

According to GEO News, Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to take disciplinary action against the all-rounder  for his ill-conceived remarks against ICC about its process to report suspect bowling actions, calling it “suspicious” during an interview to BBC Urdu.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will likely to serve show-cause notice to Hafeez, who has recently been cleared  to ball  after remodeling his action.

The all-rounder in his interview to foreign media said; "There are so many things influencing [who gets called for suspect actions], it has a lot to do with the power of [some] boards and nobody wants to take them on."

"Mostly there are soft corners and relations between people which no one wants to spoil. What I say is why not implement the rule and get every bowler in the world to go through [the testing process]. What's the difficulty in that?" He asked.

During the interview, Hafeez  said that he was surprised when he found out that the degree of flex in his bowling action was marginally above the legal limit of 15 degrees.

The ICC law of bowling specifies that a bowler's arm must not extend during the bowling action. Only the rotation of the shoulder can be used to impart velocity to the ball. According to the current regulations of the ICC set the legal limit of 15 degrees of permissible straightening of the elbow joint for all bowlers in international cricket.

"When match umpires called me [for a suspect bowling action], I went for my test only to find the flex was recorded up to 16, 17 and 18 degrees," Hafeez said. "I was surprised: how can anyone with the naked eye see flex from 15 to 16, and at times they are not able to call those whose flex is 25 and even 30-plus.

"So I have my doubts about this [calling system]. This is suspicious, why are match referees or on-field umpires can not see those flexing up to 35 but me with 16 degrees?” he asked.

the all-rounder was first suspended from bowling in December 2014. Following remedial work on his bowling action, he was re-assessed and cleared to bowl in April 2015. He was reported for the third time during the Abu Dhabi ODI against Sri Lanka in October 2017.