Hafeez gets in trouble for ‘ill-conceived’ remarks against ICC

All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has landed himself in trouble as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is issuing a show cause notice to him for questioning the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) process for reporting suspect bowling actions.

Former captain, who was suspended from bowling international cricket after his action was found illegal for the third time, raised doubts about the process and called it 'suspicious'.

Citing its sources, Geo News reported that an official of PCB has confirmed that the board is sending a showcase notice to the all-rounder for his interview. “PCB is issuing show cause notice to Hafeez for his ill-conceived remarks against ICC in an interview to BBC.”

The 37-year-old, who recently got cleared to bowl in international cricket, said in the interview, "There are so many things influencing [who gets called for suspect actions], it has a lot to do with the power of [some] boards and nobody wants to take them on."

Hafeez told BBC Urdu, "Mostly there are soft corners and relations between people which no one wants to spoil. What I say is why not implement the rule and get every bowler in the world to go through [the testing process]. What is the difficulty in that?"

The all-rounder said he was surprised when he found out that the degree of flex in his bowling action was only marginally above the 15-degree limit. "When match umpires called me [for a suspect bowling action], I went for my test only to find the flex was recorded up to 16, 17 and 18 degrees," Hafeez said. "I was surprised how can anyone with the naked eye see flex from 15 to 16 and at times they are not able to call those whose flex is 25 and even 30-plus."

"So I have my doubts about this [system]. This is suspicious, why are match referees or on-field umpires not able to see those flexing up to 35 but me with 16 degrees?” he questioned.

Last month, Hafeez underwent a re-assessment of his action at the Loughborough University where it was revealed that the amount of elbow extension in his bowling action was within the 15-degree.

He was first suspended from bowling in December 2014 after he was reported in November 2014 during a Test series. Following remedial work on his bowling action, he was re-assessed and permitted to resume bowling in April 2015.