KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken disciplinary action against Muhammad Hafeez after the 37-year old all-rounder raised doubts over the process that International Cricket Council’s (ICC) follows for reporting suspected bowling actions.
Hafeez, who was recently cleared to resume bowling after three suspensions, questioned the process and termed it “suspicious”.
“PCB is issuing show cause notice to Hafeez for his ill-conceived remarks against ICC in an interview to BBC,” a PCB official told a local news channel on Friday.
The cricketer, during his interview with the British channel’s Urdu transmission, had spoken about nepotism in the sports world.
“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,” stated Hafeez.
“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 questioned adding that he was astounded on finding out that the degree of flex in his bowling action was only marginally above the 15-degree limit.
“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,” he said. “I was surprised: how can anyone see a flex from 15 to 16 with the naked eye, and at times they are not able to call out 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 not able to see those flexing up to 35 but me with 16 degrees?” he further questioned.
Earlier on April 17, Hafeez had gone through a vigorous re-assessment of his bowling action at the Loughborough University where he was informed that the amount of elbow extension in his bowling action was within the 15-degree limit allowed by the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations.
The all-rounder’s first suspension came in December 2014. After being permitted to ball again in April 2015, he was once again suspended for 12 months in July 2015.
His third suspension had come after the match between Abu Dhabi ODI and Sri Lanka in November 2017.
