Gilchrist questions Murali tests

Adam Gilchrist has questioned the entire process of passing judgment on a bowler's action based on tests done in laboratory conditions. Commenting on Muttiah Muralitharan's visit to the University of Western Australia to check the legality of his doosra, Gilchrist told Australia's Channel Seven: "I have got to question why they bother doing a test like that, whether it is Murali or anyone else in world cricket. Because there is nothing similar between that in a laboratory and what you are facing in the Test matches."

Gilchrist also disagreed with the decision only to focus attention on Murali's doosra. "What I find interesting is they say you don't need to look at his general offbreak any more because we have cleared that. A bowler can change what they want, every single delivery in a Test match, whatever they want to do with their wrist or the arm. I don't see that you can say they are cleared, we don't need to look for it any more."

Gilchrist had earlier been reprimanded by the Australian board for making comments on Muralitharan's action, but this time the board has decided not to take any action against him.

Meanwhile, Jacquie Alderson, one of the experts at the university involved with the tests, defended the system, saying that it would be very difficult for a bowler to change his action without the UWA team noticing it. She said that the amount of time it took for Muralitharan to rotate his arm in match conditions was the same as it was during the tests.

"I think it would be highly unlikely that someone will be able to change their action inside that environment but I would not say it would be impossible," she said. "But to be honest I don't know any other way it could be tested. You would have to say it would be very difficult for someone to actively change their motion in less than a hundredth of a second."