Dubai: Hitting back at criticism that it was soft-handling the chucking issue, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday that it was dealing with the issue of bowlers with suspect actions more effectively than ever before.

“The current regulations, in place since March 2005, provide a scientific basis for judging a player’s action while at the same time recognising the reality that almost all bowlers are likely to straighten their arm to some extent during delivery,” ICC general manager ' cricket David Richardson said.

He was reacting to comments made by former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe that ICC should ensure chuckers are chucked out of the game.

“The regulations are based on the views of an expert panel of former players including Angus Fraser, Michael Holding and Tony Lewis ' the current chairman of the MCC’s cricket committee,” said Richardson.

“This group studied the research of prominent bio-mechanists professor Bruce Elliot, Dr Paul Hurrion and Mr Marc Portus and the scientific evidence they were presented with was overwhelming.

“The facts are that some bowlers, even those never suspected of having flawed actions, were found likely to be straightening their arms by 11 or 12 degrees,” he said in a press release on Thursday.

Five senior international bowlers have been reported under the new process ' Harbhajan Singh of India, Pakistan’s Shabbir Ahmed and Shoaib Malik, Jermaine Lawson of the West Indies and John Botha of South Africa.

On Crowe’s statement that Test cricket was being undermined by the continued presence of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Richardson said, “Bangladesh has taken time to adjust to the demands of Test cricket but that mirrors the experience of every side that has stepped up to the top level.

“Bangladesh is a cricket-crazy country and has shown encouraging signs of development and, given time, we fully expect it to become more and more competitive at Test level. (PTI)