South African spinner Prenelan Subrayen was reported for a suspect bowling action during the first ODI against Australia at Cairns, the ICC confirmed on Wednesday (August 20).

“The match officials’ report specified concerns about the legality of Subrayen’s action,” the apex body said in a statement.

Subrayen returned with the figures of 1/46 in his ODI debut against Australia on Tuesday as South Africa registered a thumping 98-run victory to lead the three-match series 1-0.

The 31-year-old has 14 days to undergo an independent assessment of his bowling action at an ICC-accredited testing laboratory. The rule allows a bowler 15 degrees of elbow extension while delivering the ball.

Subrayen is allowed to bowl until the results of his tests are known, but Proteas coach Shukri Conrad said on Thursday that the team has decided against playing the off-spinner until his testing process is completed.

"He's available to play. You are allowed to play until you get tested," Conrad said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

"We just felt that less noise and get him out of the public eye, make sure he is okay and focuses on the testing.

"The process is to get him tested as soon as we can and we are looking to do it in Brisbane. That suits everyone. We are going to the UK via Brisbane so hopefully we can get it sooner rather than later."

This is not the first time that Prenelan Subrayen has come under scrutiny for his bowling action. Cricket South Africa deemed his action illegal in 2012 after conducting two separate tests before he was cleared to bowl in 2013 after going through remedial work and his bowling action was re-tested.

Subrayen was later reported in 2014 during the Champions League T20 tournament in India and again during a domestic T20 tournament in 2015. He failed in a re-assessment of his bowling action in early 2016, but was cleared after getting clearance from a CSA’s High Performance Centre and resumed bowling in March 2016.

Subrayen made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo this year and took four wickets in the first innings.

South Africa is already without their pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada for the ODI series in Australia due to injury. The remaining two ODI will be played at Mackay on August 22 and August 24.