Googlies, doosras, sliders, top spinners and chinamen – all part of the armoury of the world’s great spin bowlers, who try to baffle batsmen with their varieties and entertain crowds with their skills and mysteries.

Spin bowlers will come under special scrutiny during this ICC Champions Trophy competition to try to resolve the biggest “chucking” crisis cricket has seen since the 1960s. The ICC has commissioned a leading human movement specialist to capture spin bowlers’ actions on film in an attempt to decipher more about the way the ball is released to achieve the different spins, swerves and dips. For the first time, scientific data will be gathered in the field and analysed in depth before any decisions are reached.

Former South African wicketkeeper David Richardson, now the ICC’s General Manager of Cricket, explains how the filming programme will be carried out: “We will be using two high-speed cameras, one positioned behind the bowler’s arm and the other square of the wicket. These will film the slow bowlers’ actions at 250 frames a second, five times faster than standard TV cameras.

“The footage from both cameras will then be combined and converted by a software programme to create a three-dimensional image of the action. This will provide us with a new generation of information that can be used in considering levels of tolerance for the accepted amount of extension at the elbow, either in terms of straightening or hyper-extension of the arm.”

Under current Laws, slow bowlers are allowed a maximum of five degrees of straightening at the elbow in delivery – in contrast to ten degrees for fast bowlers and seven and a half for the medium-pacers. The research from the ICC Champions Trophy will give a fuller picture of the situation under match conditions and across the full range of a bowler’s deliveries, which often require subtle changes in action.

Dr Paul Hurrion, the expert commissioned by the ICC, admits that there has been less research carried out into slow bowling than faster bowlers but confirms that this project will provide a clear scientific explanation of what actually happens during the delivery action and how many degrees of movement the various spinners have.

“Although a laboratory is likely to produce slightly more accurate data because of the controlled conditions, a competitive match situation guarantees the correct levels of player effort and technical application in the most realistic conditions,” he says.

Once Dr Hurrion’s data has been processed and analysed it will be used by the ICC and its specialist advisors to consider if the current levels of tolerance for slow bowlers need to be reviewed, based on the new information. The advisory committee, made up of former Test cricketers Angus Fraser (England), Tim May (Australia) and Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka), will announce its findings in November.

The gathering together of all of the top teams for the ICC Champions Trophy provides a rare opportunity to film the actions of a wide range of slow bowlers at the same time under similar match conditions.

Article taken from the ICC Champions Trophy, 2004, Souvenir Event Guide.