'Bowlers can still be called for chucking'
Steve Bucknor says the new liberalised rules for bowlers haven't undermined umpire's authority.
Cricket's premier umpire, Steve Bucknor, says the new liberalised arm-bending rules for bowlers have not undermined the authority of an umpire, who can still call the bowler for chucking if he considers a bowler's action illegal.
Bucknor said the new regulations for umpires reporting a bowler suspected of throwing, introduced by the International Cricket Council on March 1, had cleared up confusion by standardising the rules.
"This will clear up a few things, a naked eye can only make out if the bowler is bending his arm more than 15 degrees and that's been made the standard yardstick," Bucknor said.
Bucknor, 59, from Jamaica in the West Indies, is to become the first world cricket umpire to officiate in 100 Test matches when he takes his position on Wednesday in the second match of the India-Pakistan series at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.
"Nothing stops an umpire from calling a bowler for chucking if he feels the bowler is going beyond the permissible limit," Bucknor told reporters on Monday.
The new rules have been slammed by several former cricketers, who feel they legalise throwing and aid those with defective bowling actions.
The 15 degree arm-bending level was decided because the ICC's technical panel, headed by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, observed that it was difficult for umpires to judge chucking below that scale.
The technical panel analyzed the actions of several bowlers who were considered graceful, but discovered they were bending their arms.
"Technology's assistance has further eliminated the possibility of players trying to cheat," said Bucknor. "Cricketers are now aware that they will be found out if they try to cheat."
