Marlon Samuels's bowling action cleared by the ICC

What’s the story?

West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels’s action was cleared by the International Cricket Council earlier today after his action was found to be legal.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that following remedial work and reassessment, the bowling action of West Indies Marlon Samuels has been found to be legal, and the player can now resume bowling in international cricket,” the ICC said in a statement.

In case you didn’t know...

Samuels’s bowling action was under suspect back in 2015 and was suspended for 12 months by the ICC during Sri Lanka’s tour tour of West Indies in December of the same year. Since then, Samuels played the role of a batsman, instead of an all-rounder for his side. He will always be remembered for his match-winning knock of 85 in the final of the World T20 where the West Indies defeated England in the final .

The heart of the matter

Samuel’s ban occurred around the time when the ICC were on the prowl and were suspending numerous bowlers due to their illegal bowling actions. Samuels’s teammate and West Indies’s best bowler Sunil Narine was suspended in November 2015 whereas Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and Mohammed Hafeez were suspended as well. However, all three of them have been cleared of their actions.

Samules went through a complete reassessment of his bowling action at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough. The test results revealed that the amount of the extension of his elbow for all his off-spin deliveries was well withing the 15-degree level of tolerance which was permitted by the ICC regulations.

What’s next?

West Indies will face England in a 3 match ODI series which will begin on March 3rd, after which they will take on Pakistan in a long series which consists of two T20 internationals, 3 ODIs, and 3 Tests.

He will also be up for auction in the Indian Premier League auction which will take place on February 20th in Bangalore.

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Sportskeeda’s take

The West Indies cricket team would welcome back Marlon Samuels in the bowling department, especially in the T20 format. His ability to generate a lot of pace along with the spin makes it difficult for batsmen to face him with ease. However, he would have had to change his bowling action after the suspension, due to which he might not be able to generate as much success as he did before.