Shane Shillingford suspended from bowling in international cricket

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that an independent biomechanical analysis has found the bowling action of West Indies’ off-spinner Shane Shillingford to be illegal and, as such, the player has been suspended from bowling in international cricket.

The analysis revealed that for both his standard off-break delivery and his doosra, the amount of elbow extension in his bowling action exceeded the 15 degrees’ level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions. He is suspended from bowling in international cricket until such time that he has submitted to a fresh analysis, which concludes that he has remedied his bowling action.

Meanwhile, the independent biomechanical analysis of the bowling action of Marlon Samuels concluded that his standard off-break delivery was bowled with a legal action, but that his quicker deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees’ level of tolerance and thus, were considered to be illegal.

While he is allowed to continue to bowl his standard off-break delivery in international cricket, he is not permitted to bowl his quicker deliveries.

Should Samuels be reported again for a suspected illegal bowling action within the next two years, such a report will be deemed to be a second report for the purposes of the ICC Regulations. If the independent biomechanical analysis following the second report concludes that Samuels has an illegal action, whether it is for his quicker deliveries or any other type of delivery, he will be automatically suspended from bowling in international cricket for a minimum period of 12 months.

The independent analyses of Shillingford and Samuels were performed by Associate Professor Jacque Alderson and her team at the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, The University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth on 29 November.

The players have the right to appeal against UWA’s conclusions to the Bowling Review Group. Should they choose to appeal, they must lodge written notification with the ICC within 14 days.

Shillingford and Samuels were reported at the end of the second day’s play in the Mumbai Test against India last month by on-field umpires Richard Kettleborough and Nigel Llong, TV Umpire Vineet Kulkarni and Andy Pycroft of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.
Both bowlers have previously been reported and suspended from bowling in international cricket after their bowling actions were found to be illegal. They were, however, allowed to resume bowling in international cricket after they underwent remedial work on their bowling actions and further testing.

Shillingford was reported in November 2010 and resumed bowling in June 2011, while Samuels was reported in February 2008 and resumed bowling in September 2011.