SAEED AJMALl's ban could mean the death of the doosra

It's a hard life being a bowler. It is especially so these days because pitches are flatter, boundaries are shorter, and bats are bigger. Changes in the white ball versions of the game power plays and free hits, for example -- have all been to feed and fatten the sheltered batsman, while restricting the diet of the deprived bowler. As a result, averages have climbed higher and run-rates have improved. Yes, cricket is becoming even more of a batsman's game.

This widening imbalance between bat and ball should be a concern. Yet, having formally looked at the problem of monster bats in June, during a cricket committee meeting, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided, unsurprisingly, not to act. Not yet, at least, but one wonders how much farther batsmen will have to routinely hit the ball before something is done. After all, bowlers have not benefited from anything like that type of kindness - seams have not been made prouder, nor stumps widened. Bowling is as difficult an endeavor as it has ever been.

Nothing is ever given to bowlers. Whatever advances the craft has experienced was developed out of necessity. With the balance so heavily tilted in favour of the batsman, it is natural that bowlers would strive to get some redress, and the refinement of reverse swing and the emergence of the doosra are examples of bowlers rebelling against the status quo.

No one is suggesting here that bowlers and their representatives gathered together in one place as some kind of secret cabal to secretly plot this attempt at leveling an uneven playing field. However, it is undeniable that exponents of reverse swing and mystery spin came to the fore as effective and relatively new methods of restricting the onslaught of pampered batsmen.

There is an African proverb recorded in Chinua Achebes great novel, Things fall Apart: "Eneke the bird says that since man has learnt to shoot without missing, he has learnt to fly without perching." In other words, it is natural to take action to offset hardships. With orthodox finger-spin, for the most part, being unthreatening to batsmen, bowlers have sought after ways to get back in the game. Mystery spin, with the doosra the most effective arrow in its quiver, has dramatically increased the danger posed.

The problem with those who seek the doosra, however, is that the delivery seems too frequently accompanied by an action that contravenes the law. Indeed there are a number of experts, who are convinced that its impossible to legally bowl the delivery.

Recently, Pakistan's bowling spearhead, perhaps the game's best spinner, Ajmal, was suspended for an action that didn't comply with the law. His ban follows those of Shane Shiliingford and Marlon Samuels, in December last year, and Sachithra Senanayake and Kane Williamson since the beginning of 2014. This has been, in relative terms, a flurry of activity by the authorities, and points to a concerted and long overdue effort to clamp down on what many regard as a blotch on the game.

One concern that is worth considering is this: what of the batsmen who have fallen to illegal deliveries? This is purely a rhetorical question, but what redress can they have? Is it fair to them that they might have been robbed of runs, or that their career might have been harmed because of problems they had with a bowler who should not really be bowling? What of the teams that Pakistan defeated largely because of Ajmal's illegal bowling? Can they now have the results of those matches overturned, or voided at the least?

Ajmal's action was examined in 2009 and it was found to be within the 15-degree level of tolerance allowed under the law. Since then, it appears, his action has deteriorated to the point where all his deliveries, not just the doosra, were found to breach the law during his recent examination. Either that or there were issues with the testing process that cleared him the first time.

Whatever the case, and if experts like Bishen Bedi are correct, then we must now consider the possibility of cricket without the doosra. This will, unfortunately, have the effect of making life even easier for batsmen. Even if Ajmal finds his way back to international cricket, as he has vowed to do, chances are he will not be force he was before. Shane Shillingford, now required to operate without his doosra, is half the bowler he was prior to his forced separation from the game, and has since lost his place in the West Indies test team though, still a member of the squad.

However, no matter how sympathetic we are with anything that makes for a more even contest between bat and ball, the rules have to be obeyed. The law is the law and should be uniformly and consistently applied no matter the cost and regardless of the status of the offender.

The 15-degree allowance is probably a reasonable response to the discovery that almost all players flex their arms to some degree when bowling. It is difficult to figure out what else could have been done. Policing such a law, however, has been a nightmare, and it is somewhat understandable that there is so much confusion surrounding the process of enforcing this complex rule. Until the technology that allows umpires to immediately detect illegal bowling actions is available, there will be uncertainty. Reports suggest that that day could be near, and so batsmen will soon be able to rejoice at the death of thedoosra.