England board lifts ban on Mohammad Hafeez after his bowling action is cleared

Hafeez played 4 T20 games for Middlesex last summer.

Hafeez's action was reported numerous times | Getty Images

Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who was reported for his action during a T20 Blast game last year, has been cleared to bowl in England again after passing an assessment test at LUMS University in Lahore on Wednesday (February 12).

The England Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed in a press release that Hafeez's bowling action was found legal in an independent assessment at an ICC-accredited biomechanics lab in Lahore and he is now eligible to play in all English competitions. 

The 39-year-old off-spinner was reported for a suspect action after a T20 Blast game between Middlesex and Somerset at Taunton last August.

He was then subsequently banned from bowling in the tournaments held by England Cricket Board after a Bowling Review Group hearing at Lord's after an assessment test at Loughborough University, as the test showed that the bowler's elbow extended past the permissible 15-degree limit.

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But he was allowed to bowl in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Pakistan's domestic T20 competition and the Qatar T10 League after the ban by the ECB.

However, Hafeez has now cleared to bowl again in all competitions in England after the assessment of his re-modeled action was carried out in Lahore at a testing center where his action was found under the permitted 15-degree elbow extension.

Though, the all-rounder is yet to get any contract with a county for the 2020 season after playing four T20 Blast games in which he managed just two scalps but scored 115 runs with the highest score of 48 for Middlesex last summer.

Noteworthy, Hafeez has been reported for his bowling action and even banned from bowling on numerous occasions in 2005, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

(With Cricbuzz Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 13 Feb, 2020

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