Medical experts' views on Murali's action (27 January 1999)

27 January 1999

Medical experts' views on Murali's action

Samson Abeyagunawardena

Tuesday, January. - Two Australian orthopaedic surgeons are inviting Muralitharan and cricket umpires to a biomechanics study to determine whether the bowler's action can be called throwing, according to a report by sports writer Malcolm Knox in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

Knox states that after the 1995-96 cricket tour of Australia by Sri Lanka, the two surgeons - Dr. David Dilley and Dr. David Sonnabend - measured the angle of Muralitharan's elbow at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital. The surgeons would like to repeat the study in Sydney next month, according to the report.

Muralitharan was first no-balled for throwing during the 1995-96 tour.

Malcolm Knox quotes Dr. Dilley as stating: "We took him (Muralitharan) to the hospital's biomechanics clinic and hooked him up to a machine, basically an electronic goniometer, which measures the elbow joint angle. A computer print-out showed that his elbow did not go from a bent position to a less bent position. Therefore, he was bowling fair deliveries in the eyes of the laws of cricket."

Knox quotes Sri Lanka born Dr. Siri Kannangara, director of the New South Wales Institute of Sports Medicine, as having stated: "In an age where we have third umpires and technology helping with many decisions, I can't see why we should not use this technology to study Murali's action."

Knox observes that while the testing may prove Muralitharan's action to be fair in general, umpires still reserve the right to judge each ball as they see it.

"This" states Knox "has been implicit in the conflict all along: the ICC or any other body may have judged a bowler's action fair in the past, but only the umpires are qualified to judge it in the present... The only deliveries that matter are those Muralitharan bowls on the field, not in a biomechanics clinic. Umpires must be free to decide whether a bowler varies his action to produce an unfair delivery.

"Umpires who have no-balled or reported Murlaitharan's action have often been happy with most of his balls, but suspicious of certain variations which impart greater spin or pace on the ball."

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)