Aussie spinners agree to flick 'doosra'

[Eshen]

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SYDNEY — Australia's leading spin bowlers say they are firmly against coaching the controversial 'doosra', with one Test great saying it is an illegal delivery.

The 'doosra', an Urdu term for a ball that turns away from a right-hander, as opposed to a conventional off-spinner which turns towards him, has engendered debate over its legitimacy in world cricket.

Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has been credited with introducing the unorthodox finger-spinning delivery and it has been used by, among others, Test cricket's all-time leading wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan and India's Harbhajan Singh.

But a gathering of Australia's prominent spin bowlers at a 'spin summit' last month in Brisbane, details of which emerged on Monday, concluded that the doosra cannot be bowled legally and there was no place for it to be taught in Australia.

The verdict had the unanimous agreement of the group including Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Jim Higgs, Gavin Robertson, Terry Jenner, Peter Philpott and Ashley Mallett.

Mallett, a former Test off-spinner and now an author, said he believed the doosra could not be delivered by a finger-spinner without it being 'chucked' and was thus against cricket's rules.

"There was unanimous agreement that the off-spinner?s ?other one?, the doosra, should not be coached in Australia," Mallett wrote in the Adelaide Review published Monday.

"I have never seen anyone actually bowl the doosra. It has to be a chuck.

"Until such time as the ICC (world governing body) declares that all manner of chucking is legal in the game of cricket I refuse to coach the doosra. All at the 'Spin Summit' agreed."

In May this year, Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal's bowling action was cleared by a biomechanic expert after he was reported by the umpires while bowling a doosra during the second one-day international against Australia in Dubai April.

South African off-spinner Johan Botha was also reported for bowling a doosra last May, but his delivery was ruled illegal by the ICC and he was warned against bowling that particular delivery in international cricket.

Muralitharan, Harbhajan and Pakistan's Shoaib Malik have all had their actions cleared by the ICC human movement specialist panel after the legitimacy of their doosras was called into question.