It is learnt that the BCB’s notice of review appealing Taskin Ahmed’s suspension is based on a procedural issue © Associated Press
The BCB is filing a notice of review with the ICC to appeal against Taskin Ahmed‘s suspension due to an illegal action, the board’s chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said. The BCB’s move comes a day after it lodged an appeal with the ICC; board president Nazmul Hassan spoke to ICC chairman Shashank Manohar and chief executive David Richardson.
Taskin and left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny were suspended from bowling in international cricket on March 19, after an independent assessment found their bowling actions to be illegal. The pair were reported after Bangladesh’s World T20 first-round match against Netherlands on March 9.
According to Chowdhury, the board is trying to expedite the review and is exploring the scope of review in line with the regulations. This is a more “by the book” approach compared to Hassan’s actions, which the BCB president said was not the usual way of appealing for such a case.
“If any player asks for such a review the ICC tries to do it within a reasonable time,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. “We are in touch with the ICC regularly so that we can expedite the review. Every regulation will have argument points for both parties. Whether this player will be in a position to participate in the remaining match will depend on the outcome of the discussion.”
ESPNcricinfo has learned that the BCB is expecting a result of its review “within a day or two”. The hearing could be held through a teleconference in the presence of the BCB and ICC officials and the player, though he can be represented by a legal expert.
ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCB will seek a review under article 2.3.1 of the ICC’s regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions. This article deals with a Judicial Commissioner Review. It is learnt that neither the BCB nor Taskin are questioning the independent assessment report but the review is based on a procedural issue. Article 2.2.15 of the ICC’s regulations states that: “in circumstances where the Player contends that the ICC has not followed its own procedures under these Regulations in the lead up to and/or during an Independent Analysis, the Player shall be entitled to seek a review of the procedural aspects of his case by a Judicial Commissioner”.
The ICC, on Sunday, said that the umpires in the Bangladesh-Netherlands match had cited general concerns about Taskin’s bowling action. According to BCB sources, however, the fast bowler was suspended after three of the nine bouncers he bowled during the assessment were deemed to have been bowled with an illegal action.
According to the ICC’s regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions, during the assessment a medium fast/fast bowler will be required to bowl a minimum of six good-line and length deliveries, six yorkers and six bouncers, along with any other variations they usually bowl or that have been reported as suspect by the match officials. Taskin reportedly was asked to bowl these three types of deliveries because the umpires didn’t specify a particular variation of a delivery in their report.
“The umpires cited general concern with his action in the match report, as they suspected it could be illegal based on what they observed in the match,” an ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “They are entitled to report their concerns relating to any bowler, and that bowler will then be independently tested.
“A medium/fast bowler is required to deliver yorkers, length deliveries and bouncers because an assessment of these lengths of delivery is considered to be an assessment of his standard bowling action. If any of these deliveries are illegal, his action is considered to be illegal. As there were no other variations specifically cited in the umpires’ report, he was only required to deliver these three lengths during the assessment. The lab assessed that some of his deliveries were under the 15-degree tolerance, and some were over. He was therefore suspended.”
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo