Not everyone in Australian cricket was shocked after Matt Kuhnemann was delivered the googly that threatened his career earlier this month.
Test teammates and team staff expressed dismay that the spinner had been cited in Sri Lanka but back home there were state players who have long expressed scepticism at the left-armer’s bowling action – according to two figures in the industry speaking on the condition of anonymity – even if he had played 154 professional games without incident.
Matt Kuhnemann celebrates the wicket of Prabath Jayasuriya during the second Test of the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy in Sri Lanka.Credit: AP
Kuhnemann was still in Sri Lanka when he was broken the potentially career-threatening news by coach Andrew McDonald and his assistant Dan Vettori on February 11, just two days after Kuhnemann had spun Australia to a rare series whitewash success in Asia.
But it was not until Wednesday night that Kuhnemann, who has a hyperextended elbow that experts say can give the illusion of an illegal action, was cleared by the International Cricket Council.
Australia’s unlikely spin hero would undoubtedly have preferred to spend the past fortnight basking in the afterglow of victory than enduring the tumult of having his career stalled, but every cloud has had a silver lining for him – and possibly the game.
What has emerged from Kuhnemann’s ordeal is vindication in his steadfast belief, and that of his Test teammates, that his action is legal; that the game needs a shift in how it views suspect actions; and the frustration umpire Joel Wilson elicits in the Australian dressing room.
Kuhnemann (right) with young star Cooper Connolly in the victorious Australian rooms.Credit: Getty Images
When bowlers reported for a suspect action turn up for the testing that could break their careers, they are told upfront there is no hiding.
“That’s made very clear to the bowlers from the outset,” biomechanist Dr Luke Kelly, a member of world cricket’s panel of human movement experts, told this masthead. “The essential thing is you can’t beat the test.”
The test is “highly standardised” so that a bowler can undergo the same test, whether they are at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane or at the International Cricket Council’s accredited testing centres in Lahore, Loughborough, Chennai or Pretoria.
A player is deemed to have an illegal action if their “elbow extends by an amount of more than 15 degrees between their arm reaching the horizontal and the ball being released”.
Kelly, who would not comment on the specifics of Kuhnemann’s case, said players were talked through the testing process the day before, and walked through the process immediately before commencing.
Players are given time to warm up and prepare as they would before training or a game. Markers are then placed on the arm and trunk. This allows testers to build a digital version of the bowler’s arm and body on their computer to assess the movement of the joints as the player bowls their repertoire of deliveries on a full-sized indoor pitch.
Kuhnemann in full flight.Credit: AP
If a player has the belief they can game the test, the 18 motion analysis cameras set up around the bowler, like an ultra-aggressive field placing, to capture the infrared beams that hit the markers placed on their topless torso is a stern reminder they better not try. It is extremely rare that players do. They don’t get away with it.
“Once they’re ready to go we have a whole bunch of calibration procedures,” Kelly said. “We get them to do a whole heap of manoeuvres to move their shoulders [and] elbows so we can understand how this specific anatomy moves for each individual bowler.”
Kuhnemann was tested at the NCC in Brisbane on February 15. Players typically bowl between 18 to 36 deliveries in their tests, including their stock ball from over and around the wicket. Variations such as the square-seam delivery commonly used on the subcontinent, “the doosra”, arm ball and carrom ball are also bowled. Fast bowlers must deliver balls of a full, good and short length, Kelly said.
After the first over, the tester and another expert – an independent assessor who has a background in coaching or high performance – compares the vision to footage from a game to make sure a bowler in replicating their action.
“This is the most important piece central to the effectiveness and integrity of the whole process,” Kelly said.
The analysis of the movement is thorough.
“From when their back foot hits the ground all the way through to ball release,” Kelly said.
“Then we break it right down and go, ‘Let’s look at the back foot position, back leg position, back leg movement, [and] front foot position when it hits the ground. Where is the front arm? What does the front arm path look like relative to the trunk, relative to the front leg? What’s the trunk position’?
“Is there similar levels of side flexion, forward flexion, and the general arm path of the bowling arm as well? We take a close look at all of those things to help us look at it objectively, and we also have the ball speeds, which is very, very helpful too.”
Though the tests do not measure the revolutions imparted on the ball, Kelly said there are “telltale signs” that give a bowler up.
Kuhnemann bowling in Sri Lanka.Credit: Seven Network
“If someone is really trying to rip it or a fast bowler is bowling different, you’ll see it in their trunk position, their front arm,” Kelly said. “It’s pretty obvious. You have to generate those revolutions somehow.”
The hyperextension of the elbow is not factored into the test, though it creates an illusion that a bowler could have a suspect action, Kelly said. Kuhnemann has a hyperextended elbow.
Umpire Joel Wilson.Credit: Getty Images
John Davison, the former Canada and Victoria spinner turned spin coach to the stars, has mentored Kuhnemann for 13 years. He was confident Kuhnemann would be cleared because of this trait.
“The thing for me with bowling actions that look suspect – it’s generally guys who have this hyperextended elbow, and it just looks different,” Davison said. “And people go, ‘He must throw because it just looks different’ without having a real understanding.”
Davison was disappointed Kuhnemann was reported by match officials Wilson and Adrian Holdstock, saying his protege was made a “scapegoat”.
He is particularly upset with Wilson, the West Indies umpire who has become widely mocked by fans in Australia for the number of decisions he has overturned, and believes he was the umpire driving the call. The view is also shared by some players in the Australian set-up, according to a source with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Wilson did not officiate on the field in the first Test, when Kuhnemann bowled without incident, but joined Holdstock for the second.
“I’d be encouraging Joel Wilson to get his decisions right, rather than get too involved in other parts of the game,” Davison said.
For decades, illegal actions have been viewed through the prism of deceit and deliberately trying to gain an unfair advantage – but there are calls for this to change.
Kelly said it should be viewed as a “technical error”, and a result of fatigue and injury. By removing the “stigma”, he said, it would leave junior coaches better equipped to deal with the issue earlier.
Davison said it is time to steer discussion away from a matter of integrity.
“He’s obviously devastated,” Davison said. “It’s his career – it’s a tag you don’t want in cricket.
“I saw kids the afternoon he was reported purposely throwing the ball and going, ‘Nice, Kuhny’. It’s like that. It spreads like wildfire. I saw [former South African spinner] Johan Botha came out and said it’s something that sticks with you forever. Hopefully, now that Kuhny’s cleared, it sticks that he has a legal action – and that sticks forever.”
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