Chuck it, Pak, Greg knows what he’s talking about

So when India’s coach passed comments about Shoaib Akhtar’s action, it should be known where the middle Chappell brothers was coming. There was something decidedly peculiar about Shoaib’s action when he bowled in Karachi.

Watching on television is, admittedly, hardly the same as being at the venue. But Shoaib’s action was noticeably slingshot and thus suspect at times and it appeared he was out to deliberately hit the batsmen. Snow didn’t need to do that. He was too good.

In the first two Tests, on flatbed surfaces where Pakistan were only interested in having an extended middle net, the Rawalpindi Express looked decidedly smoother and there was no jerk in his action (not that anyone would notice the difference).

Karachi was different. And, as expected, the comments coming out of Pakistan are decidedly paranoid over the Chappell allegations. After the ICC’s Bowling Review Group upheld the banning of Shabbir Ahmed for a year over his decidedly dodgy action any criticism of a Pakistan bowler will not be appreciated.

There are those in Pakistan who view anything said about the action of their bowlers as a ‘prejudiced plot.’ That’s garbage. Did you hear the United Cricket Board bleating over Johan Botha’s action when it was questioned?

It is known that Botha was the subject of serious comment during South Africa’s A team tour of Sri Lanka last August/September. It even reached the stage where the views of the Sri Lanka A team management were place in a report but it wasn’t sent to the ICC; just a verbal concern that he should be watched.

Now Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, is tossing his rhetorical toys. Here he grumbles about Wasim Bari, the Pakistan selection convener, being fined for comments about umpires and wants the ICC to discipline Chappell. It’s time Pakistan got rid of this touch of inferiority (or obsession) and take a serious look at Law 23 (notes 2 and 3) and also Law 1 (notes 3 and 4). Of course the PCB chairman can quote such laws verbatim.

It is well-known that Shoaib has hypertension in the elbow, but if you examine replays of the action from Lahore to Karachi, there was a decided difference whether the Pakistanis like it or not.

But then they don’t like Kiwis pointing out a few facts. Former New Zealand captain John Reid refused to back down in 2000 when he banned Waqar Younis for what was a flagrant breach of the law of fair and unfair play. Waqar was caught on camera fingering the ball during the rain-ruined Test in Kandy last time Pakistan were on tour in Sri Lanka.

Pakistan didn’t like it but Reid stood by his decision. There is only one set of laws, not one for Pakistan and one for the rest of the world.

Back to Chappell. He knows what facing genuine fast bowling is all about. Snow was not a gentle floating white flake. But when you think of it, Shoaib was tested in 2001 under the old formula (7.5 for spinners and 10 for fast bowlers). Perhaps it is time he was given another trial under the new system to see whether there is any changes in bowling action.