UAE bowlers Farooq and Shahzad reported for suspect actions, to undergo ICC testing

Farooq and Mohammed Shahzad face testing after being reported by match officials during Afghanistan series

Salman Farooq of the UAE in action during a Twenty20 match against Eurocon Alubond Cricket at Sharjah Cricket stadium on August 30, 2009. Paulo Vecina / The National

DUBAI // Salman Farooq, the UAE off-spinner, vowed to work hard to get his bowling action cleared after being reported for a suspect action on his one-day international (ODI) debut earlier this week.

Farooq was the most economical bowler for the UAE on Sunday, bowling six overs for only 23 runs, as the hosts restricted Afghanistan to 280 for eight in the second match of their four-ODI series, then cruised to a six-wicket win.

Match officials, however, cited some concerns about the throwing motion of the 33-year-old spinner, along with that of UAE teammate Mohammed Shahzad. The duo now have 21 days to undergo testing at one of the International Cricket Council-affiliated centres.

“It is disappointing, because I have been playing cricket for more than 15 years and was dreaming of the day I would make my UAE ODI debut,” Farooq said.

“I have been doing really well on the domestic circuit and I did not do too badly on my ODI debut, and I was really looking forward to my World Cup chances. So this is a bit of a hurdle, but I am not going to accept defeat so easily.

“I will definitely do everything I can to come clean on this. In the recent past, a lot of off-spinners from around the world have been reported for suspect action. The same has happened with me … I have been reported with a suspect action, but my action has not been ruled illegal as yet.

“So I don’t see myself as someone with an illegal action until the process is complete. I have put in a lot of hard work over the past 15 years to get to this stage and I am not going to give up. I am waiting for the next process to start and I will go through all the hard work needed to get myself cleared.

“So while this is disappointing, given that the World Cup is just around the corner, I am definitely not going to give up and will work hard to come clean on this.”

One of the most consistent performers in club cricket this season, Farooq was on the standby list for the national team’s recent tour of Australia and had forced himself into the reckoning for a place in the UAE team for next year’s World Cup.

His bowling action, however, raised concern and the Emirates Cricket Board decided to send him to India last month for a biomechanics examination, along with left-arm spinner Shadeep Silva, who was reported by officials during the World Twenty20 qualifiers last year.

Farooq, however, was unable to get a visa. He was supposed to fly to Chennai.

“There are other testing centres as well, so if I cannot get a visa to India again this time, I will go to the other centres,” he said. “Like I said, I am not giving up … I am going to work hard to come clean.”

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