Cricket World Cup 2015: Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal withdraws due to bowling action issues

PAKISTAN’S Saeed Ajmal ruled himself out of the World Cup after the suspended spinner decided not to go for official testing of his suspect bowling action.

Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal delivers a ball during the One Day match with the visiting Kenyan team at the Gaddafi Cricket stadium in Lahore on December 20, 2014. Ace Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal December 19 said he is confident of a comeback at international level after bowling for the first time with a remodelled action, three months after his suspension. AFP PHOTO / Arif ALI

PAKISTAN’S Saeed Ajmal ruled himself out of the World Cup on Saturday after the 37-year-old suspended off-spinner decided not to go for official testing of his suspect bowling action.

“Ajmal himself withdrew from the official testing which effectively means he has withdrawn from the World Cup,” Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Agha Akbar said.

Akbar said Ajmal will hold a news conference in the coming days and will give more details about his decision.

The PCB earlier on Saturday said that only Mohammad Hafeez will visit India next week for unofficial testing of his bowling action while Ajmal will continue to work on his bowling action with former test spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed back home.

Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal in action against Kenya earlier this month.

Ajmal was suspended in September by the ICC while Hafeez was banned from bowling in international cricket earlier this month after his action was found to be illegal during the first test against New Zealand.

Former test spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed, who have worked with Hafeez, agreed that the off-spinner should now be tested at an ICC-accredited laboratory in Chennai, India, before going to the world’s governing body for official testing.

Ajmal will continue to work on his remodelled bowling action with Saqlain and a bio-mechanist at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

Time was fast running out for Ajmal to get into Pakistan’s World Cup squad which is due to be named by Jan. 7. The PCB believes the off-spinner needs more time to bowl within the allowed elbow extension of 15 degrees.

Saeed Ajmal has conceded he won’t be able to rework his action in time for the World Cup.

Ajmal has been unofficially tested three times at the ICC-accredited laboratory at Loughborough University in England since being suspended, but is yet to bowl within the allowed parameters.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said Friday that if Ajmal undergoes official ICC testing - and his bowling action is found illegal - the off-spinner faces a ban of two years which means the end of his international career.

“The PCB fully supports Ajmal in his attempt to regularise his action and to return to cricket as Pakistan’s top performer in the future,” the board said in a statement on Saturday.

Meanwhile the global crackdown on suspect bowlers continued this weekend as Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha was banned from bowling in competitive matches due to a suspect bowling action.

Ojha, who has taken 113 wickets from 24 Test matches and was one of Australia’s chief tormentors in last year’s Test series in India, has been withdrawn from Indian domestic cricket in order to undergo remedial work in Chennai.

Originally published as Cricket World Cup 2015: Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal withdraws due to bowling action issues