England batsman Jonathan Trott on Saturday refused to be drawn into the ongoing controversy over Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal’s action, saying it was up to the game’s governing body and officials to decide.
The prelude to the three-Test series was surrounded by Ajmal’s mystery delivery which he claimed to unveil against England. Ajmal took a career best 7-55 and 3-42 to help Pakistan rout England by ten wickets inside three days, triggering doubts over the legitimacy of his bowling action which was already questioned and cleared in 2009.
Former England paceman Bob Willis sparked the controversy by saying he has problems with Ajmal’s doosra — a delivery bowled with the same action but turns the other way than an off-break.
When asked about Ajmal’s action, Trott said: “It’s not really my place, I’ve played against the bowler before and we’ve been pretty successful.
“With regards to delivery action and stuff, that wouldn’t be beneficial for us to worry about the legitimiacy of someone’s action, it’s important that we won the next game and don’t take our attention off that,” said Trott. “It’s their (on-field umpires) job, its not our job to do anything with regards to opposition players, we’ve got to worry about outselves. The fact of the matter is we are 1-0 down and we’ve got to win the next match.”
The second Test starts in Abu Dhabi from January 25. Dubai will stage the thrid and final Test from February 3-7. The teams will also play four one-day and three Twenty20 internationals.
Trott, 30, praised Ajmal but refused to accept England needed specific preparations against him.
“Of course, whenever somebody takes ten wickets whether seamer or spinner, I don’t think you go around preparing for a specific type of bowling or a person you try and make sure that your game is in good order,” said Trott.
Trott said he was confident England can stage a comeback.
“Since I have been a part of this team for two and a bit years, we’ve had a few losses, but we have managed to bounce back in the following games, so it’s a case of hopefully being able to do that again,” he said.
England team director Andy Flower said he has his own views on Ajmal’s action.
“I don’t think that (Ajmal’s action) has got into the guys heads,” said Flower on Friday.
“Our job is to deal with whatever bowlers bowl against us and the ICC’s job is to police the guy. I have got my own private views and talking about them here is not going to help any situations,” said Flower. Flower accepted England’s three-day capitulation was a shock. “It was a bit of a shock. We played and batted poorly. Test cricket is a tough game. If you give people an opening like that they will punish you. The Pakistan side is good enough to do that,” said Flower, a former Zimbabwe batsman.
