It was 1999, the tri-nation series among Australia, England and SriLanka was taking place. In a match, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was bowling against England. Suddenly umpire Ross Emerson called for no bowl, not once but twice. The Umpire said that Muralitharan's elbow was bending excessively, which is known as ‘Chucking’ in cricket.
Just a few months ago Saeed Ajmal was banned from bowling in international cricket matches,
SriLankan Sachitra Senanayake and West Indian Sunil Narine were banned also because of chucking.
How is Chucking committed?
If a bowler bends his/her elbow more than 15 degrees while bowling, it is known as chucking. Previously this rule was for only fast bowlers. Medium fast bowlers and spinners had different rules also. That means, fast bowlers couldn’t bend their elbow over 10 degrees, medium fast bowlers couldn’t bend elbow over 7.5 degrees and spinners were forbidden to bend their elbow over 5 degrees. But things changed in 2014 when a universal rule for all types of bowling was enacted.
When a bowler is suspected for chucking in a match, a written letter of protest must be submitted to ICC within 24 hours. Actually, field umpires report bowlers to the match referee. Match referee then presents a written report to ICC. Bowling action must be tested within 21 days from report submission date.
Bowling action is tested at special laboratories in Brisbane, Australia or Protoria, South Africa or Cardiff, England. Recently a new testing centre was established in Chennai.
Technologies used in testing bowling action
A bowler has to bowl in average speed. She/he must do so in all types of actions she/he uses while bowling. Numerous micro-sensors are attached to the bowler's body. These sensors help monitor the bowler's each movement. Also some cameras are set up. These help to closely monitor the bowler's action. Besides these, 3D motion cameras and High-speed cameras are also used.
Often a bowler is found to be defaulting in any one particular bowling action. e.g: Saeed Ajmal's Doosra bowling action. His elbow bends beyond the legal limit, that's why he is forbidden to bowl in this particular action.