Lahore: Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistan allrounder, has been suspended from bowling in international cricket by the ICC after an independent assessment found his action to be illegal. Hafeez was reported for a suspect action after the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi last month and underwent an assessment on November 1 at Loughborough University in England.
The assessment revealed that a majority of Hafeez’s deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the ICC’s regulations.
This is the third time in three years that Hafeez has been suspended from bowling in international matches. In November 2014, he was reported during a Test series against New Zealand and suspended from bowling in December. In April 2015, his remodelled action was found to be legal by the ICC and he was cleared to bowl, but a couple of months later he was reported again, after the Galle Test against Sri Lanka. Assessments confirmed once again that his action was illegal, and he was suspended from bowling for 12 months – the penalty, according to ICC rules, if a bowler’s action is found to be illegal twice within a period of 24 months.
