Saeed Ajmal banned

As for those who wonder why he got away with it for so long?

Darrell Hair.

In the link above it is claimed that up to 35 bowlers have suspect actions in Pakistan's domestic set up and Pakistan has had a testing centre for 4 years and has not tested a single player. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of of illegal actions in the SL domestic scene as well.
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If the ICC have allowed Ajmal to bowl for 5 years with a suspect action and with success both in terms of wickets and financial then it would have been inevitable that copycats would be created. Pakistan have since tested all bowlers and the ones that have been suspect have been suspended and Saqlain is to work with them to correct their action.

Ajmal has been bowling throughout the world domestically and for Worcester not one umpire questioned him so its not just the PCB that were slack but also other nations.

The truth is many mystery spinners will not be able to pass these new tests now. The likes of Ashwin and Narine will probably have to privately remodel some of there deliveries or they will also be suspended.

Is it more that at the top level an umpire doesn't noball a suspect delivery?

I played a team last season who had a young spinner who blatantly chucked but "county have cleared him".

When I was learning to bowl I was made to keep my elbow straight. Now because folk have this leeway they don't teach them correct actions when it is most vital.

Call all suspect bowling again and THEN test those called.

i dont expect narine to be banned in the ipl. And he has barely played for WI. If he plays for WI, 100% sure he is the next big fish on the list.

As far as Ashwin is concerned, I dont think he has a suspect action. otherwise with how strict the umpires have been he would have been caught in this eng series. Ashwin used to stop and bowl but even that he doesnt do anymore and its not in any way illegal.

Lets see though. He is bound to play lots of cricket in the next few months. If he has illegal action, then he would be reported by the umpires.

To add to that most bowlers that know they are bowling illegaly, they wear long sleeves. narines, samuels, ajmals. these lot wears long sleeves, and Ashwin pointed this out in wt20, by copying narines action and saying in PC that these lot are doing this.

From what I saw of Ashwin he looks ok, there are some bowlers who just "look" iffy when you see their actions. Murali was one of them. He took all the testing and passed so fair play for me.

I think the doosra should be allowed, even if it's not legal. Not if it's 40 degrees or anything as silly as that, but up to 20 degrees I think should be acceptable.

I grew up in the 80s watching John Emburey, Eddie Hemmings, Dipak Patel, Peter Taylor and more recently Ashley Giles for the majority of their careers trying to save runs and give their other bowlers a break. I can't stand that type of player in cricket. That shouldn't ever be what spin bowling should be about.

The doosra (like the googly or the flipper for leggies) is a weapon and has added another dimension to off-spin bowling. We have had more and more off-spinners believing they can be match-winners since Saqlain started bowling the doosra in the late 90s and Murali bowled with his unorthodox action around the same time. (I understand that maybe bowlers like Ramadhin may have bowled it years ago, but never saw him play so can't comment)

Off the off-spinners with variations, I think only Saqlain, Mendis and Ashwin are legal, others in my opinion have at some point looked illegal (Murali, Harbhajan, Narine, Ajmal and many more).

But the truth is NONE of these bowlers have been unplayable, some successful, some not so successful. Even if you bowl 6 perfect doosras an over, you won't get people out. Look at Swann, one of the most successful off-spin bowlers of the last decade and no doosra.

Setting up batsman to get them out will always be the best way to get batsmen out and if the laws are relaxed to help the bowler (for once) why not?

Batsmen get flatter pitches, shorter boundaries, fast outfields, better bats, why can't bowlers get some help. I'd much rather see a doosra with a legal action, rather than an illegal action, but at the end of the day, I just want to see more attacking bowlers and off-spinners are the only types of bowlers that have progressed recently. Fast, swing and leg-spin bowling have dramatically regressed in the last 10-15 years.

And as for Ajmal, if his regular deliveries are even bowled over 30 degrees and his doosras 40 degrees, well that's unacceptable and he should quire rightly be banned.

I watched him 2 years ago and whilst his doosra looked suspect, he never (in any of his deliveries) looked like he was chucking it at 30-40 degrees. I think maybe his action must have got worse over the years, especially after he got cleared.

As for the guy who mentioned baseball. Do you watch T20 cricket on flat pitches with small grounds and military medium lollipop bowlers?

Cricket is becoming like baseball, with or without the chuckers.

Ajmal has always chucked IMHO.

I believe you have answered your own question, Swanna was able to be a very effective attacking bowler without a doosra, so illegal bowling should remain so as it is not required to even the contest.

As for your last sentence, I'm not sure what you mean by this, do you actually think I like T20?

Yes and West Indies were able to dominate cricket without sledging the opponents. Players like Gavaskar said the fearsome foursome of WI hardly said a word whilst dominating batsmen.

However, when Australia were dominating, they were sledging all the time, getting into the head of their opponents. Different teams or players have different ways of getting success. What worked for Swann will not necessarily work for other bowlers.

Ajmal I agree if he's always been bowling 40 degrees then should not be bowling but if for example Murali was bowling a doosra around 20 degrees, that should be allowed. His bowling was unique and was a joy to watch. If he ended up getting up getting banned early in his career, then it would've been a big loss to cricket.