MUMBAI, India, CMC – West Indies chief selector Clive Lloyd has lashed out at the decision to report Sunil Narine’s action and believes cricket’s world governing body, the International Cricket Council, should get involved to help find a resolution to the issue.
The West Indies off-spinner was twice reported during the Champions League Twenty20 while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders, and subsequently banned from bowling in the tournament.
He missed Saturday’s final which Chennai Super Kings won by eight wickets in Bangalore.
Following the development, the West Indies Cricket Board withdrew Narine from the West Indies 14-man squad to face India in a five-match One-Day International series set to bowl off Wednesday in Kochi, so his action could be assessed.
However, an upset Lloyd questioned the rationale behind reporting Narine’s action, contending that it was a huge blow for West Indies cricket especially with the World Cup approaching.
“He has been bowling over the years with the same sort of action. Now all of a sudden it has changed. What has changed, I don’t know. What did they do? I want to know the procedure,” Lloyd said Friday.
“Do you warn him? Do the officials say ‘I have found something and I want it remedied?’ You can’t just ban him from bowling just before an important tour like this and the World Cup coming up. It destroys the individual’s ability as such and I think you may end up destroying someone’s career.
“This guy has been doing well playing for KKR for the last three years. if you look at his action, he has been doing pretty much the same and I want to know what is it that has been found that they ban him and not say something like, ‘listen, you have a bit of a problem and you have to rectify it’.”
Organisers announced that the charge related specifically to Narine’s faster ball. He was first reported last Monday following KKR’s final game of the preliminary round, and immediately placed on a warning list.
He was reported a second time following Thurday’s semi-final resulting in an immediate ban, under CLT20 rules.
While Narine remained free to bowl in international cricket, Lloyd said West Indies management had been informed by a source requesting anonymity, that the 26-year-old Trinidadian would have been called during the upcoming one-day series.
“Before we came here we were told that they were going to call Narine, so it’s quite obvious that something must have been said somewhere,” the legendary former West Indies captain charged.
“And all of a sudden, this guy who is supposed to be one of the best bowlers around – and (Saeed) Ajmal for that matter, how many Test wickets does Ajmal have – and all of a sudden his bowling action is suspect.
“The point I am saying is something should be done before all this comes to this point. I am disappointed in the sense that our bowler could suddenly be out of the tour.”
The CLT20 is organised and run by the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) but Lloyd said the ICC needed to have a say in the matter, especially since the BCCI’s decision now affected the West Indies team in an international series.
“We don’t know. Nobody has told us anything. Nobody has written a letter. That is the thing about it. Something should be said to us. We are left high and dry. All of a sudden, the guy is not playing in a tournament he has played for the last three years,” Lloyd argued.
“He has been an integral part of the KKR and the tournament. What are you then saying about the tournament? Are you saying that that the tournament has probably allowed people who have got bad actions. I don’t know because they might have international umpires in this tournament all these years.”
He continued: “I hope [the ICC gets in touch] rather soon because I think it’s wrong the way they have gone about it and I have been involved in the ICC for years and I think you (CLT20) cannot just ban a guy just like that.
“This is a guy who has played for us all over the world, not only in West Indies. We have been to New Zealand, played in the West Indies. All of a sudden, this guy has got a suspect action. I am not happy, I would like to say it strongly.”
Narine made his international debut three years ago and has played six Tests, 52 one-dayers and 32 Twenty20 Internationals.
He is ranked number two in both ODIs and T20s.
