Shoaib not being reported because of politics: Holding

New Delhi, Apr 8 (UNI) Bowling legend Michael Holding has said that politics is preventing subcontinental bowlers from being reported for suspected illegal bowling actions.

He said he compared Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar with Indian pacer RP Singh at the end of the final Test at Karachi during the recent series between the arch rivals to show that both have hyper-extension.

''When you look at Shoaib Akhtar and RP Singh from the front, you see a bent arm with one and a straight arm with the other.

... politics is preventing people from doing what they should,'' Holding told a cricket magazine.

A member of the ICC expert committee that helped develop the 15 degree levels of tolerance now used for international bowlers, Holding said the way to tackle the problem of illegal actions was ''to get people in authority who have the backbone to do what is right and not what is politically expedient.'' ''Once you see something with the naked eye, you should be reporting it and having it assessed and measured properly. The difficulty is in the politics surrounding it with people afraid to report certain players,'' the West Indian said.

Holding said the ability of umpires to interpret potentially flawed actions was further complicated by issues like hyper- extension and adduction, which can effectively create optical illusions.

He said measuring a bowler's flex under laboratory conditions needed to be implemented using the correct procedure.

''When you see something that looks awkward to you, you can go to the TV booth or the production company van and then look at the slow-motion replays to make sure it's seemingly a chuck. Then you can send the guy to the lab to be measured. If it's a fast bowler, they'll know what the speed he was bowling in the game.

He has to be bowling at 90 to 95 per cent of that speed in the laboratory, otherwise they'll know he's holding back.'' ''If he goes into the lab and does not do what he does in the game, it is upto the people testing him to report to the ICC that they are not satisfied. That's written in the laws,'' he said.

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