The England Cricket Board had suspended Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan from bowling in all ECB-organised tournaments due to his bowling action was deemed illegal by an independent testing facility at Loughborough University.
The Left-arm spinner was reported for a suspected action during his one-off appearance for Surrey in September during a County Championship match against Somerset.
On-field umpires Steve O’Shaughnessy and David Millns found fault with the bowling action of Shakib, who claimed nine wickets in that game.
“Shakib completed an independent assessment at Loughborough University earlier this month, which found that the elbow extension in his bowling action exceeded the 15-degree threshold as defined in the Regulations,” stated an ECB release.
“This suspension takes effect from the receipt of the independent assessment on 10 December 2024, and follows the process set out in the ECB’s Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with a Suspected Illegal Bowling Action.”
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been suspended from bowling in ECB competitions following an independent assessment of his bowling action.
— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) December 13, 2024
While Shakib’s suspension is only related to ECB’s competitions, section 11.3 of the ICC regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions.
“In circumstances where a National Cricket Federation suspends a player from bowling in domestic cricket under its own rules, where such suspension is imposed on the basis of an analysis of the respective player conducted by an Accredited Testing Centre and in accordance with the Standard Analysis Protocols, such suspension shall be respected and enforced by the ICC in International Cricket and all National Cricket Federations in respect of domestic cricket under their jurisdiction automatically upon receipt of notice of the same, without the need for any further formality.”
“The ICC and National Cricket Federations shall take all steps legally available to them to enforce and give effect to such decisions.”
Shakib’s suspension could also reflected in international cricket and also competitions held by other cricket boards. In order to resume bowling in England domestic competitions and be cleared by the ECB, Shakib will have to pass a reassessment of his action.
In his 17 year old career, Shakib was the first to pick 712 international wickets across 447 matches, that Shakib’s bowling came under Scrutiny.
The left-hander has been sidelined from international cricket since playing the Test series against India in September-October. He was keen to bid farewell to his Test career during the home series against South Africa.
But he was ruled out South Africa series due to security concerns prevented him from being part of the Bangladesh squad. Shakib also missed the ODI series against Afghanistan in the UAE and Bangladesh’s tour of West Indies, while he featured in the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament.
