SA varsity joins war on chucking

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

THE University of Pretoria (UP) has joined cricket’s war on chucking by earning accreditation as a testing centre for bowlers with suspected illegal actions.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced Pretoria’s addition to a list of testing centres that previously consisted of the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, Loughborough University in Leicestershire and Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai.

Helen Bayne, who has a masters in biomechanics and is the head biomechanist at the High Performance Centre at UP, will run the testing process.

“It’s important for us to have a testing centre in our region,” Bayne said on Thursday. “It’s been challenging for young bowlers with suspect actions to be able to get help.”

In a release, the ICC said, “The (UP) facility was assessed against a range of criteria, including having an indoor area large enough to allow a player to bowl off his or her normal full run-up; a motion analysis system with a minimum of 12 high-speed cameras capable of producing three-dimensional data, suitably qualified personnel, experienced in using such systems, and implementing the ICC testing protocol.

“The ICC has provided its testing protocol, which includes a suite of testing equipment and software, to the four accredited centres, to allow for a consistent assessment of bowlers across the different facilities and countries.”

In June, the ICC accepted their cricket committee’s recommendation to mount a crackdown on chucking. Seven bowlers worldwide have since been reported for suspect actions - six of them off-spinners.