List of cricketers called for throwing in top-class cricket matches in Australia

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Man in a blue shirt releases a white ball with his right arm, propelling it in the air in the direction of man in yellow uniform wielding a bat at the other end of a cream piece of turf, which is surrounded by green grass. Next to the bowler is another man in yellow with a bat and a man in a light blue shirt and white hat, the umpire. Two men in blue shirts stand behind the batsman waiting for the ball to come to them.
Muttiah Muralitharan bowling in a One Day International against Australia in early 2006. Just over a decade earlier, also in Australia, he was called for throwing twice in ten days by two different umpires—Darrell Hair and Ross Emerson.

This is a list of cricketers called for throwing in top-class cricket matches in Australia. In the sport of cricket, strict rules govern the method of bowling the ball. The rules relate to the bending of the arm at the elbow, the extent of which has always been open to interpretation by the umpires.[1] More recently, the International Cricket Council has attempted to codify the maximum permissible flexing of the elbow as 15 degrees.[2]

When a player is found by the umpire to have delivered the ball contrary to those rules, the umpire will call a no-ball and he is said to have been called for throwing. Where public opinion is that a player's bowling action appears to be that he routinely throws, he is said to have a 'suspect' or an 'illegal' action, or more derogatorily, is said to be a 'chucker'.[3] The issue is often highly emotive with accusers considering that deliveries with an illegal action are akin to cheating.[4]

Over the years, a number of players have been called in top-class matches – Test matches, One Day Internationals and domestic first-class matches – invariably creating controversy and occasionally destroying cricket careers.[5][6] Often the player has been able to modify his action to appease his critics and the umpires, but more commonly, especially when the bowler has been called on more than one occasion, his career in international cricket is effectively ended.[7]

List of players called for throwing[edit]

Note: Entries marked with blue backgrounds were called for throwing in a Test match or One Day International (ODI) played in Australia.
Player[8] Date Team Opposing team Umpire
Tom Wills 30 March 1872 Victoria New South Wales A. Sellars
Dave Gregory 26 December 1872 NSW, Tasmania, SA XIII Victoria George Curtis
Tom Wills 28 December 1872 Victoria NSW, Tasmania, SA XIII George Curtis
Richard Wardill 14 March 1873 Victoria Tasmania William Sidebottom
Ernie Jones 30 October 1897 South Australia Andrew Stoddart's XI Jim Phillips
Ernie Jones (Test) 4 January 1898 Australia England Jim Phillips
Jack Marsh 27 December 1900 New South Wales Victoria Bob Crockett
Jack Marsh 1 February 1901 New South Wales Victoria Bob Crockett
Jack Marsh 4 February 1901 New South Wales Victoria Bob Crockett
Frank Pitcher 3 February 1911 Victoria South Africa Bob Crockett
Frank Pitcher 4 February 1911 Victoria South Africa W. A. Young
Tommy Andrews 7 November 1914 New South Wales Queensland unknown
Ron Halcombe[9] 17 January 1930 Western Australia Victoria Andrew Barlow
Ron Halcombe 24 January 1930 Western Australia Tasmania A. J. Buttsworth
Ron Halcombe 25 January 1930 Western Australia Tasmania Walter Lonergan
Laurie Nash 26 January 1931 Tasmania Victoria unknown
Eddie Gilbert 18 December 1931 Queensland Victoria Andrew Barlow
Harold Cotton 13 November 1936 South Australia Victoria Andrew Barlow
Charles MacGill 7 March 1939 Western Australia Victoria Fred Buttsworth
Harold Cotton 14 December 1940 South Australia Victoria Andrew Barlow
Ron Frankish 17 February 1951 Western Australia Victoria Andrew Barlow
Jack McLaughlin 2 January 1960 Queensland New South Wales Jim Bowden
Brian Quigley 4 November 1960 South Australia Victoria Col Egar
Gordon Brooks 3 March 1962 South Australia New Zealand Col Egar
Ian Meckiff 11 January 1963 Victoria South Australia Jack Kierse
Ian Meckiff 4 March 1963 Victoria Queensland Bill Priem
Ian Meckiff (Test) 7 December 1963 Australia South Africa Col Egar
Eddie Illingworth 13 November 1964 Victoria South Australia Col Egar
Eddie Illingworth 13 November 1964 Victoria South Australia Jack Ryan
Keith Slater 16 November 1964 Western Australia New South Wales Ted Wykes
Barry Fisher 24 November 1967 Queensland New South Wales Ted Wykes
Muttiah Muralitharan (Test) 26 December 1995 Sri Lanka Australia Darrell Hair
Muttiah Muralitharan (ODI) 5 January 1996 Sri Lanka West Indies Ross Emerson
Tony McQuillan
Geoff Foley 1 November 1997 Queensland Victoria Ross Emerson
Geoff Foley 11 February 1998 Queensland Tasmania Ross Emerson
Muttiah Muralitharan (ODI) 23 January 1999 Sri Lanka England Ross Emerson

See also[edit]

References[edit]

General
  • Whimpress, Bernard (2004). Chuckers: A history of throwing in Australian cricket. Adelaide: Elvis Press. ISBN 0-9756746-1-7.
Specific
  1. ^ "Law 24 (No ball)". Marylebone Cricket Club. 2003. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
  2. ^ "Bending the rules on chucking". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 November 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
  3. ^ "Chucking: Why the fuss?". BBC. 11 July 2000. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
  4. ^ Fraser, Angus (22 August 2006). "Clean bowled: Why cricket has double standards over cheating". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 September 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
  5. ^ Whimpress, p. 144.
  6. ^ Whimpress, p. 146.
  7. ^ Whimpress, pp. 5–9.
  8. ^ Whimpress, pp. 154–155.
  9. ^ "Sporting News and Notes : Cricket : The Halcombe Sensation" The West Australian, 22 January 1930, p6

Further reading[edit]