PCB rope in Carl Crowe to tweak Mohammad Hafeez action

Bowling coach and consultant Carl Crowe from the United Kingdom has been roped in by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to help 35-year old Mohammad Hafeez tweak his illegal bowling action before the latter takes the ICC Bowling assessment test in England.

A senior official affiliated with the PCB stated that Crowe has been working closely with the senior Pakistan batsman for the last three days in Worcestershire where Pakistan played a tour match in preparation for the third Test against England. The third Test is scheduled to take place at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

“Crowe has worked a lot with West Indian spinner Sunil Narine and the results were good. Crowe’s name was recommended to us also by the team management,” the official said.

Hafeez was subjected to a 12-month ban imposed by the ICC following his illegal bowling action. The regulation of the council suspended Hafeez on grounds of having an illegal action. Hafeez has faced problems with his bowling action since 2014 and in July 2015 was banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months after his action was found to be illegal for the second time since November 2014.

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“He was not working on his bowling action due to his knee injury which has now improved a lot and he himself is keen to play and bowl in the one-day series,” he said.

The 35-year old Hafeez was reported for an illegal action last year during a Test match against Sri Lanka at Galle. Although Hafeez is predominantly a batsman, his bowling has come of use for most skippers looking to exercise their options with a part-time spin bowler. He has 52 and 47 wickets in Tests and ODIs respectively.

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