John Howard

Sydney: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has joined the debate over Muttiah Muralidharan’s controversial bowling action, labelling the Sri Lankan off-spinner a chucker.

Howard, a keen cricket fan, was asked at a lunchtime meeting of party faithfuls on the New South Wales south coast on Friday if Muralidharan threw the ball when he bowled and he replied: “Yes”.

“They proved it in Perth too, with that thing,” he added, drawing an image of a video screen with his hands.

Muralidharan, the top Test wicket-taker of all time with 521 wickets, has a genetic defect which stops him fully straightening his bowling arm upon delivery.

He was reported for a suspect action by English Match Referee Chris Broad during the third and final Test of the March series in Sri Lanka, won 3-0 by Australia.

Muttiah Muralidharan

Perth-based biomechanics experts subsequently tested him and initially found he straightened his bent arm by 14 percent in bowling a delivery tagged the doosra.

The doosra is a delivery which spins away from right-handers instead of coming into them like a normal off-break.

Under remedial work Muralidharan reduced the arm straightening to 10 per cent, which is still twice the amount allowed to spinners under International Cricket Council (ICC) regulations governing illegal bowling actions.

After being reported to the ICC, Muralidharan has been ordered to stop bowling his doosra or face being suspended for up to a year.