West Indies off-spinner Shane Shillingford has been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after his bowling action was found illegal.
His team-mate Marlon Samuels, a part-time off-spinner, has been banned from bowling quicker deliveries in international cricket.
Shillingford and Samuels underwent biomechanical analysis in Perth last month before the start of the series against New Zealand after they were reported for suspect action.
An ICC statement said that an independent biomechanical analysis had revealed that for both Shillingford’s standard off-break delivery and his doosra, the amount of elbow extension in his bowling action exceeded the 15 degrees’ level of tolerance permitted under the ICC regulations.
Shillingford will remain suspended until he submits a fresh analysis that proves his action has been corrected.
The Dominican bowler had been suspended from bowling in international cricket in December 2010, a month after being reported for a suspect bowling action on West Indies’ tour of Sri Lanka.
He underwent remedial action on his bowling and was cleared by the ICC in June 2011.
The analysis on Samuels’ action revealed that the spinner’s standard off-break delivery was legal but the quicker delivery exceeded the prescribed levels of tolerance.
If Samuels is reported for a suspect action in the next two years, the ICC will take note of it as a second report and the player will have to undergo a biomechanical analysis.
AP Photo/ Pavel Rahman
