UWA raises doubts over reliability of ICC's recent biomechanic tests on bowlers

The University of Western Australia (UWA), whom the International Cricket Council (ICC) relied upon for the last 20 years to develop models to test illegal bowling actions, has reportedly raised serious doubts over the reliability of the recent biomechanics tests that have resulted in several international bowlers being suspended.

Up till now Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal, Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake and New Zealand's Kane Williamson have been banned while West Indies' Sunil Narine, Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez and Adnan Rasool were reported for suspect actions in the Champions League T20.UWA, which withdrew its services from the ICC in March this year because of a dispute over its intellectual property, claimed that the ICC was using their methods 'unsatisfactorily', The Dawn reported.

Associate professor in biomechanics at UWA, Jacqueline Alderson, said that they have withdrawn their services, and added that they were initially aggrieved by the ICC leveraging their research without their knowledge or permission. However, she said that that is now compounded by the lack of transparency surrounding the current testing.

Alderson had earlier also cited a lack of an independent review as the biggest question mark over the ICC tests. She said that the testing of bowlers should be independent, and it's not.

Anderson added that any scientific procedure that can impact on the ability of a player to play the game has to be an independent process and the procedures by which those decisions are made must be open to peer review, and must be available to bowlers and their boards to ensure that process is open and fair. She said that she does not think it is in the best interests of cricket.