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ICC will help correct Chauhan, Dharmasena action: Dalmiya

The International Cricket Council says it will provide the necessary assistance to correct the bowling action of Rajesh Chauhan of India and Kumara Dharamsena of Sri Lanka after the spinners were found guilty of a faulty bowling action by an ICC expert committee, ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters in Calcutta on Monday.

Dalmiya said match referee Bobby Simpson had doubted the bowling action of four bowlers during the recent Indo-Sri Lanka series, and consulted four umpires -- Steve Buckner, Cyril Mitchley, V K Ramaswamy and S Venkatraghavan -- who stood in the games. Three of the four umpires agreed with Simpson that the matter should be referred to the ICC.

Video cassettes of the four bowlers were taken during the matches and sent to the ICC for examination. The ICC then sent the cassettes to all the members of the experts committee except Kapil Dev and Ranjan Madugalle who represented the countries involved and Simpson since he was the match referee.

After watching the videos, the ICC absolved two of the bowlers of the charge of a faulty bowling action. But Chauhan and Dharamsena were found guilty of an illegal bowling action. Dalmiya did not disclose the names of the other two bowlers since they were cleared by the experts committee.

Members of the experts committee are: Kapil Dev (India), Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka), Bobby Simpson (Australia), Brian Basson (South Africa), Javed Burki (Pakistan), Doug Insole (England), Nigel Plews (England), Michael Holding (West Indies) and John Reid (New Zealand).

Dalmiya said the ICC had agreed to bear the expenditure for correcting Chauhan and Dharmasena's bowling action so that they could return to international cricket. The passage for these bowlers would have to be borne by the respective cricket boards. ''We will make the necessary arrangements once we hear from the respective boards,'' the ICC chief said.

Dalmiya said the ICC was still awaiting a report from the Indian cricket board about the pitch controversy at Indore during the India-Sri Lanka one-dayer. ''We are awaiting the report. We will not remain silent on this matter,'' he warned.

UNI