Phangiso’s bowling action officially illegal

News

Cricket365
March 3, 2016

Independent tests conducted on Aaron Phangiso’s bowling action have revealed that the left-arm spinner’s bowling action is illegal and contravenes Law 24.2 of the laws of cricket.

These tests were conducted last Friday at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre, which was accredited as an ICC testing laboratory in December 2014.

Phangiso’s tests were conducted by a member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists.

The assessment revealed that all variations of his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.

He was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action by the match officials in last week’s Momentum One Day Cup play-off between the Highveld Lions and Warriors.

In accordance with the Cricket South Africa Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions (Effective 6 October 2015), Phangiso is suspended from bowling in domestic cricket with immediate effect.

The suspension will remain in force until he has undergone remedial work on his bowling action and has passed a re-assessment of his bowling action.

CSA has confirmed that Phangiso will not be considered for the first two T20 International series against Australia. He will remain with the squad and will work alongside spin-bowling coach Claude Henderson, who will be joined by CSA’s High Performance manager Vincent Barnes in an effort to remedy his action.

Phangiso will undergo a second round of independent tests next week, which will then determine whether he is available for selection for the last T20 against Australia and whether he travels with the Proteas to India for the World Twenty20.

"The timing of this issue for Aaron and for our World T20 squad is clearly inopportune but we need to deal with it. We will work hard to remedy Aaron’s action and have him retested as soon as practically possible,” said CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

"We are fortunate to have an ICC accredited Laboratory in South Africa and this will certainly make a quick turnaround possible."

The New CSA Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions came into effect in October 2015.

Since then, six bowlers in franchise and senior provincial cricket have been reported for illegal bowling actions, while another four were reported at under-19 level.