Mike Hussey believes bowlers with dubious actions have been able to beat the system too easily, and fears traditional spinners will have little impact at next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The former Australian batsman was the guest speaker at the Mebourne Cricket Club’s annual Bradman Luncheon, where he identified illegal actions, corruption and the concentration of power with the ‘Big Three’ nations as burning issues.
The International Cricket Council has cracked down on suspect actions in recent months and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal had several of his deliveries – not just his doosra – tested in Brisbane this week. The results, to be released within a fortnight, will determine whether he is banned for Australia’s series against Pakistan in the UAE in October. Two more off spinners, ZImbabwe’s Prosper Utseya and Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi, have been reported in the past week, taking the total to seven in the past 10 months.
Hussey welcomed the crackdown on chucking, but said the system would be far from perfect until the technology exists to measure how much bowlers flex their elbows in match conditions, when they’re tired and straining for wickets.
“Players seem to be able to beat the system a little bit too easily at the moment and I think it’s something that needs to be looked at,” Hussey said.
“More people seem to be getting called around the world. But ideally where I would like to get to is that you’ve got a measuring device in-game rather than sending someone off to a laboratory. It would be great to measure it properly.
“I think it has started to creep into the game a bit more because a lot of games are [tilted] in favour of batsmen, with bigger bats and flatter pitches, so bowlers are maybe stretching things as much as they can to be competitive in games. But the rules are there and we should stick to the rules.”
As Nathan Lyon reiterated his desire to play all three formats for Australia, Hussey predicted a tough time for spinners on flat ODI pitches at the World Cup. Lyon is the only specialist spinner in the one-day team for the current series in Zimbabwe and Australia’s cup campaign looks likely to be built around power and pace, with the likes of Glenn Maxwell chiming in with spin.
“Other than probably Ajmal and [West Indies off spinner] Sunil Narine who are mystery spinners, I am fearful that spin won’t play much of a part in the upcoming World Cup,” Hussey said.
“We have got very flat one-day pitches here in Australia and certainly New Zealand, New Zealand grounds are very small, with the field restrictions these days you can only have four players outside the circle. With batting power plays plus much bigger bats it makes one-day in cricket for spin bowlers in this country and New Zealand extremely difficult.”
“Watching the one-dayers last year against England it was very difficult for spinners to be able to keep it tight or get wickets through the middle. We will probably rely on Maxwell to bowl a few overs and [Michael] CLarke to bowl a few overs rather than go with an out and out spinner.
