Simpson: 5 Jamaican bowlers chuck

KINGSTON: Former Australia captain Bobby Simpson has warned of  “at least five bowlers” in Jamaica with illegal bowling actions.

Simpson, in Jamaica on a coaching stint with young players, said the names of the bowlers have been passed along to the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and he urged regional coaches to speak out when bowlers with suspect actions are identified. “As coaches we have a responsibility to speak out. In the time I have been here, three weeks, there are at least five bowlers whose action, I don’t think, would pass the laws of cricket, and I have given the association their names,” Simpson declared while addressing the annual awards dinner of the Jamaica Cricket Umpires Association (JCUA). According to a report in the Jamaica Gleaner, Simpson made it clear the local authorities had failed to properly protect pacer Jermaine Lawson, who is now out of action because of his bowling action.

“Illegal action in bowling is not new. Based on the records that I can find it goes back to the 1890s and the response to the illegal bowler has always been the same. It has always been that he has an unusual action, that it may not be legal and that he has an advantage because of his strange action...They also said that he didn’t bowl, when you examined his action, he didn’t bowl, so you have to ask yourself, why was he allowed to continue doing what he did?” Simpson declared. “In that regard, it comes down to the people who allowed him to.” On Lawson, Simpson added: “If we are going to allow youngsters to develop a particular style of bowling that does not conform with the laws of the game and then, finally, hopefully, be called later on in their career to be under the glare and the scrutiny of the media, it is a great shame and we must ask ourselves, is it fair to them?”

“Although the ICC is making it difficult for you, you have a responsibility, a very grave responsibility to change things because of the response you could get later on in life, because of what could happen later on,” Simpson said in an impassioned plea to local coaches. “Perhaps you are thinking that it is hard if you do not let him go, or because he is only 16 or 17 you don’t want to do it, or because if you call him you may put him out of the game, but is it that fair to the game, is that fair to the batsman?” Simpson also called on umpires to enforce the law and call “no-ball” when bowlers break the law. “If the bowling does not conform to the laws of the game it is illegal and if it is illegal according to the rules of the game the ball should be no-balled. Some say that would be unfair, that it would ruin the career of the bowler,” continued Simpson, who reminded that Australia’s Ian Meckiff, who he said was indeed a thrower, was no-balled out of the game. “So what about the batsmen?” Simpson asked. “That same bowler, that same illegal-action bowler, may ruin the career of a batsman, may maim a batsman because he does get a long of advantage. There has got to be a fair, straightforward approach. I think if we don’t, we are going to face some serious trouble.” “Can you image a fast bowler with an illegal action be allowed to continue bowling, and then hitting a batsmen on the head, maiming him, maybe killing him? I don’t want to think about it.”