By Tony Becca, Contributing EditorFORMER AUSTRALIA captain Bobby Simpson believes that throwing can ruin cricket and has called on umpires, coaches and the International Cricket Council (ICC) to protect the game by getting rid of it.
In an impassioned plea while addressing the annual awards dinner of the Jamaica Cricket Umpires Association (JCUA) at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston on Saturday, Simpson, now in Jamaica on a coaching stint with young players, said that throwing by bowlers in cricket is nothing new.
He added that it has been around since the 1890s, but that the time has come for action to be taken to protect the game, to protect batsmen before it is too late, before something disastrous happens.
"Illegal action in bowling is not new. Based on the records that I can find it goes back to the 1890s and the response to the illegal bowler has always been the same. It has always been that he has an unusual action, that it may not be legal and that he has an advantage because of his strange action.
"They also said that he didn't bowl, when you examined his action, he didn't bowl, so you have to ask yourself, why was he allowed to continue doing what he did?
THE PEOPLE
"In that regard, it comes down to the people who allowed him to."
Referring to the case of Jamaica's Jermaine Lawson, who was reported for throwing during the fourth Test against Australia earlier this year, Simpson went on:
"If we are going to allow youngsters to develop a particular style of bowling that does not conform with the laws of the game and then, finally, hopefully, be called later on in their career to be under the glare and the scrutiny of the media, it is a great shame and we must ask ourselves, is it fair to them?"
According to Simpson, the responsibility lies with the umpires and coaches.
"Although the ICC is making it difficult for you, you have a responsibility, a very grave responsibility to change things because of the response you could get later on in life, because of what could happen late on," he explained.
Additionally, Simpson: "Per-haps you are thinking that it is hard if you do not let him go, or because he is only 16 or 17 you don't want to do it, or because if you call him you may put him out of the game, but is it that fair to the game, is that fair to the batsman?"
"As coaches we have a responsibility to speak out. In the time I have been here, three weeks, there are at least five bowlers whose action, I don't think, would pass the laws of cricket, and I have given the association their names," said the man who played first-class cricket for 25 years, who appeared in 62 Test matches, who has been a coach for many years, who has served on what he calls the ICC's illegal action committee and who, with such experience, should know what is a legal delivery and what is not.
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To the umpires, he said: "If the bowling does not conform to the laws of the game it is illegal and if it is illegal according to the rules of the game the ball should be no-balled.
"Some say that would be unfair, that it would ruin the career of the bowler," continued Simpson, who reminded that Australia's Ian Meckiff, who he said was indeed a thrower, was no-balled out of the game.
"So what about the batsmen? That same bowler, that same illegal-action bowler, may ruin the career of a batsman, may maim a batsman because he does get a long of advantage.
"There has got to be a fair, straightforward approach. I think if we don't, we are going to face some serious trouble. Can you image a fast bowler with an illegal action be allowed to continue bowling, and then hitting a batsmen on the head, maiming him, maybe killing him? I don't want to think about it."
