For its part the ICC has received no official complaint over Ajmal’s action, from the match referee or the umpires. Billy Bowden, who stood in this Test, was the man who first reported Ajmal after a one-day international against Australia on April 24, 2009.
Tested by the ICC’s Panel of Human Movement at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Ajmal was cleared a month later. The report, by Professor Bruce Elliott, revealed that all his deliveries were tested and all came within the 15-degree tolerance permitted under ICC regulations. But, as the document made clear, there were caveats to him being allowed to continue bowling in international cricket.
“The effect cannot be to clear him without limitation in the future,” said the ICC report. “The effect of Prof Elliott’s findings is simply to confirm that Saeed is capable of bowling with an action which complies with ICC regulations.”
It also confirms that, along with all bowlers, “the match officials will use the naked eye to determine whether Ajmal’s action complies with the laws,” noting that the permitted degree of elbow extension of 15 degrees is set at the point at which such extension will become noticeable to the naked eye. “Accordingly, any degree of extension which is visible to the naked eye must and will be reported.”
Commenting on the results at the time, David Richardson, the ICC general manager (cricket), said: “Saeed Ajmal can continue to bowl in international cricket on the basis he uses an action consistent to that used in the latest independent analysis of his action. However, it is important to emphasise that no bowler is ever cleared, as it is impossible to predict how a player might deliver the ball in the future.”
Richardson is a former Test player and he knows that a bowler’s action is only as clean as their last ball. The problem with the ICC’s protocol is that bowlers can ease back in the laboratory in a way they would not do when straining to take wickets in a match. To be meaningful, measurements have to be made in situ and that has only been attempted once, during the 2004 Champions Trophy.
While that kind of official analysis will not take place during this series, England’s batsmen have to find ways of nullifying Ajmal before the second Test begins on Wednesday. After enjoying a day off on Friday and a travelling day to Abu Dhabi tomorrow, they have three days to find solutions.
“I don’t want to pretend that scoring Test runs is an easy thing, but in this instance we badly underperformed with the bat,” said Flower. “Even though the ball wasn’t turning much we didn’t deal with it skilfully and made poor decisions. We made it look harder than it was, to be quite frank.”
Flower was a brilliant player of spin who played almost half his Tests on the subcontinent. Unlike his charges though, he didn’t have the Decision Review System to contend with, a process that has doubled the number of lbws and changed many a batting technique, not least Kevin Pietersen’s.
“I think the very fine players of spin have generally played spinners with their bat and not with their pad anyway and that hasn’t changed with DRS,” said Flower. “There have been great spin bowlers for a very long time. The skill is always to pick the amount of spin and also the length and move your feet accordingly. Nothing fundamental has changed.”
ICC top 10 test bowlers
1 Dale Steyn South Africa 896pts
2 James Anderson England 799
3 Saeed Ajmal Pakistan 762
4 Graeme Swann England 752
5 Stuart Broad England 737
6 Peter Siddle Australia 736
7 Ben Hilfenhaus Australia 718
8 Morne Morkel South Africa 715
9 Zaheer Khan India 705
10 Shakib Al Hasan Ban’desh 678