Pakistan chief selectors question ICC for chucking calls

Karachi: Former Test spinners and chief selectors Iqbal Qasim and Salahuddin Ahmed have questioned the current protocol of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for bowlers and said it was destroying the careers and livelihoods of players.

The 61-year old Iqbal Qasim, who played 50 Tests as a left arm-spinner, felt it was time for the ICC cricket committee to review the whole protocol to test our bowlers with suspected bowling actions and weigh its repercussions and benefits.

“This new system to single out bowlers with suspected actions is affecting careers and livelihoods of players. A verdict should only be given on a player after independent tests at two different accredited testing centers,” Qasim, who has twice remained chief selector, said.

Qasim, who ended with 999 first class wickets, said he found it strange that bowlers were being suspended on basis of one test.

“The protocol to test bowling actions should be consistent and uniform at all centers and should be in atleast two stages,” Qasim, who is also a member of the PCB board of governors, said.

Pakistan have lost spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Muhammad Hafeez to the new ICC protocol and they have been suspended from bowling in international cricket after failing official biomechanic tests.

Their suspensions have thrown Pakistan’s preparations for the World Cup into a quandry.

Ajmal has even written to the PCB expressing his lack of confidence in the protocol applied to test his bowling at different centers since he was suspended in September.

Salahuddin Ahmed who holds the unique record of having been a chief selector or selector 11 times stated he would like to see a suspected bowler undergo tests at an ICC approved laboratory and at an independent center after which the test results should be compared to see if they are consistent.

“The ICC should be 100 percent sure before banning a bowler. I feel the new protocol is very harsh on bowlers and I doubt its authenticity.”

He urged the PCB to challenge the new protocol in the ICC and push the cricket committee to review the protocol.

Since the new protocol was introduced this year bowlers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe and New Zealand have been suspended from bowling by the ICC.

PTI