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Bowling clinic Shoaib heads to Australia for action advice
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, reported twice in 16 months for throwing, has left for Australia to get an expert opinion of his bowling action, a senior cricket official said Tuesday. "Shoaib will be examined in Australia by some of the world's top bowlers and experts," said Zakir Khan, a senior manager at Pakistan Cricket Board. He said that the player had left late Monday for Perth to seek expert opinion and films from the University of Western Australia's human movements laboratory. On Monday, a group of bowling advisers from the PCB examined filmed footage of Shoaib's game during the fifth and final one-day international between New Zealand and Pakistan last month, when he was reported for throwing for the second time in 16 months. New Zealand won the match by four wickets that gave them the series 3-2. Regarded as the world's fastest bowler, Shoaib also had his action questioned in November 1999 when umpires -- Englishman Peter Willey and Australia's Darrell Hair -- reported him through New Zealand match referee John Reid after the third test against Australia in Perth. After a brief ban, Shoaib was forced to work on his action before he broke down again during Pakistan's tour of the West Indies early last year. The PCB said in a statement that bowling advisors in Pakistan were unhappy with the quality of the footage from the match against New Zealand. It said the film was unclear and did not provide views from different angles. Shoaib, who returned to international cricket after a 10-month absence, had been under intense scrutiny from the time he arrived in New Zealand last month. Dr. Tauseef Razzaq, who has been working on the bowler, has said Shoaib was suffering from "hypo flexible joints" that have been medically proven during his days in Perth with bio-mechanical expert Dr. Daryl Foster. Foster rescued the career of Sri Lanka's match-winning off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowls with a bent arm -- a birth deformity -- and was no-balled for throwing three times in matches in Australia. A PCB official told The Associated Press that the board was confident Shoaib would be cleared by Australian experts because he, too, has a deformity in his arm since birth. Shoaib, 25, will no longer be part of Pakistan's new-look tour party as the touring side prepares for the start of a three-test series, officials have said. If Shoaib is reported for the second time during a 12-month period, the ICC will appoint one of its bowling advisers to work directly with the bowler. Then if he was to be reported for the third time during this period and if the International Cricket Council's Bowling Review Group finds him in breach of Law 24.2, he will be banned for a 12-month period from the date of the hearing. Before leaving Pakistan, Shoaib told reporters that he looked forward to meeting with the world's top bowlers and get a chance to improve his bowling even more.
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