THE DECISION to report West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine for a suspected illegal bowling action has been lambasted by a former West Indies fast bowler, coach and selector.
Sir Andy Roberts, one of the outstanding fast bowlers in champion West Indies teams under Clive Lloyd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has termed the treatment of Narine as “unfair”.
Speaking to MIDWEEK SPORT from Antigua yesterday, Roberts, who had a stint as West Indies coach in the 1990s and later served as a selector, said Narine’s action was no different to that of former Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who bamboozled batsmen on the way to claiming a world record 800 Test wickets.
“I am not saying that Narine’s action is legal or illegal but when one looks at Muralitharan, who played for close to 20 years, literally with the same action. He was called once. It shows that there is a lot of unfairness within the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its structure,” Sir Andy said.
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