Tuesday 12 May 2009

Of Banned Doosras, Johan Botha and Seedy Conversations

I've been in Perth for the last day which I hope explains my relative lack of posts. But more interesting is that while I was there, I decided it would be interesting to snoop around the University of WA for no particular reason except to make a pain of myself. And as I was walking past some labs, I overheard a conversation from an office which was rather suspicious:

South African voice: We need to make ut seem realestec of coorse.
Australian voice: Yes, clearing you for everything would be more than suspicious. We need to appease your critics in some way too.
SA: Hoping ut is easn't too harsh... All thet money...
A: I'm sure we could figure something out. It would have to be your doosra.
SA: Vot! Thet doosn't help me.
A: You're not paying me all that much, mate.
SA: Majola will dooble it!
A: And I'll half your penalty. The doosra to right-handed batsmen. It's close enough.
SA: Yip, that is fair I must say if they are going to let me play. Don't use it uften.
A: So we're done?
SA: We are done.
A: Wire the money to a Swiss bank account by tomorrow and I'll write the media release. Pleasure doing business with you.

And that is the story of how Johan Botha is not a chucker.

Botha was recently cited for his bowling action, but tests in Australia found that, with one exception, there is no problem. The exception is Botha’s doosra, the delivery that turns away from the right-hand batsmen. He has been banned from bowling this delivery.
Yeah... okay. I won't say anything right now.
Says Mickey Arthur:

“Johan used the delivery very sparingly and I don’t think it played a role in his success. He will still be an important weapon for us."

"A semi-chucker!!!"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried bowling the delivery in the Harbhajan/Botha action. I noticed that I had better control and accuracy when I chucked.

Anonymous said...

You can't be a Dutch and be good at cricket at the same time.

Amy said...

Or more realistically, you can't be a Dutch who looks like a skinny E.T and be good at cricket at the same time. I once saw a kiddie cricketer try to spin the ball. I thought I was seeing Botha in action.

Q said...

Thats the same thing they did with Murali and Bhajji saying that the arm bent more than 15 degrees when they bowled the doosra hence they cant bowl it anymore in matches.. they stopped for a while but then started again and now bowl the doosras even more than before.. so i dont c how this will change anything Botha does..

Its all a sham this ICC testing and ruling..