Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez cleared to bowl by ICC

Dubai, April 21 (IANS) Pakistan’s all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez was on Tuesday cleared to bowl in international cricket after remedial work and retests were conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC).Pakistan’s woman cricketer Javeria Khan was also cleared. 

The retests were performed at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai on April 9, an ICC release said. 

Hafeez was suspended in December last year after his action was reported in the first Test match against New Zealand in November in Abu Dhabi.

He thereafter failed the initial test, which was performed later in November. He was also ruled out of the 2015 cricket World Cup.

Javeria was also reported after the ICC women’s World Twenty20 2010 match against Sri Lanka in St. Kitts in the Caribbean on May 6, 2010, and had failed the initial test, which was performed on June 16, 2010.

“At the retests, it was revealed that the amount of elbow extensions in both the off-spinners’ bowling actions for all their deliveries bowled were within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions,” the ICC statement said.

The umpires are still at liberty to report Hafeez and Javeria in the future if they believe they are displaying a suspect action and not reproducing the legal actions from the retests.

To assist the umpires they have been provided with images and video footage of the two bowlers’ remodelled legal bowling actions.