Cricket
Botha can play but no doosra
2009-05-11 21:28
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Altus MombergCape Town – The Proteas' plans for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup are back on track with the news that spinner Johan Botha received the green light to play again.
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.
Botha was cited in the recent one-day series against Australia and he underwent the tests at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Had he been found guilty of chucking, he would have been suspended for a year.
Botha is a very important member of the Proteas’ one-day and Twenty20 sides and his ability to slow the tempo is one of the reasons for the Proteas’ recent successes in the abbreviated versions of the game.
Since 2007 he has established himself as one of the top one-day bowlers in the world and his absence would have left an enormous void in the Proteas’ attack.
Botha did not want to comment on Monday before being officially informed of the outcome of the tests.
However, South African assistant coach Vincent Barnes, who has been working hard on Botha’s action the last few weeks, was over the moon.
“We were confident that he was not chucking, but it’s still a relief. Now we can concentrate on the Twenty20 World Cup,” he said.
Proteas coach Mickey Arthur said he was also relieved. He does not believe the banning of Botha’s doosra will be damaging.
“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,” said Arthur.
Botha trapped Mitchell Johnson leg before wicket with a stunning doosra in Centurion, but it was the only wicket in the series that he took with the delivery.
He achieves most of his success by sustaining pressure by varying the speed of his deliveries.
It was not the first time Botha’s delivery had been tested. In 2006, he had to go for six weeks of rehabilitation on his bowling action.
Botha said at the end of last month that he hoped it would be the end of the controversy if he passed the test for a second time.