Comment: How does the Kane Williamson spin differ from Jofra Archer sting?

Steve Smith is down for the count but why does the Australia stable feel he's in the right head space to decide if he should have played on despite "passing" a concussion test. Photo / AP

• The ludicrous practice of policing pedantic rules of playing and ascertaining the health and welfare of players is worlds apart nowadays.

• How important is Kane Williamson's alleged chucking compared with Jofra Archer's deadly deliveries? Does Richie Mo'unga have a shoulder injury or is he concussed? You be the judge.

It seems alleged chucking in cricket and concussion — in any sport for that matter — require much closer and, dare I say it, independent scrutiny than what transpires in ad-hoc fashion based on TV snippets.

For argument's sake, that Kane Williamson has been reported for chucking shouldn't surprise as much as why the New Zealand camp issued their captain the licence to bowl in the first test against Sri Lanka in Galle this week.

Williamson and Sri Lanka off spinner Akila Dananjaya, who also was cited, will be rolled into a laboratory where protractors will be used to determine if they have breached the mind-boggling 15-degree flex of the arm.

It's absurd for umpires at the bowling crease to scrutinise a suspect arm covered in long-sleeved shirt with any accuracy.

Should there be a rule that demands all bowlers wear short-sleeved shirts or roll up sleeves of the arm in question?

I hear the anti-Muttiah Muralitharan brigade ruminating the irony of former Sri Lanka spinner claiming his 800th test scalp on the final day of his career in July 2010.

For the record, Muralitharan was put through the spin-dry cycle in an Australia laboratory and — amid numerous other subsequent tests — declared legit on the grounds of a bone deformity in his right elbow that enabled him to procure such prodigious turn with wrist flexion and shoulder rotation.

All that, however, has little bearing on why Williamson should now have to undergo more humiliating analysis when he forms the spine as one of two most adroit New Zealand batsmen.

With four spinners at their disposal — Mitchell Santner again under the dubious label of an allrounder but specialist in none — why should the skipper have to roll his arm, considering he appears to be suffering from a white-ball hangover following the ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.

Which takes me to another "suspect" bowling action — that of England newbie Jofra Archer that packs a knockout punch.

Newbie Archer clipped Australia skipper Steve Smith behind the ear in the first innings of the second test and then followed it up with decking Smith's historic new test rule replacement, Marnus Labuschagne, albeit on his helmet grill with his frightening up to 150km/h pace.

Never mind Archer's smiling assassin expression, how much should rules be bent to allow a test match to mutate from cricket entertainment to a maiming sport.

Is England captain Joe Root's alleged "cheating catch" more significant?

Is England cricket captain Joe Root's alleged "cheating" catch more important than Jofra Archer's "deadly" bowling action? Photo / AP

My preoccupation is with the brains trust allowing Smith to re-enter the batting arena again because he had supposedly passed the concussion test.

The 30-year-old batsman, nauseous and dizzy, has been ruled out of the third Ashes test in Headingley starting on Friday (NZ time) amid symptoms of delayed concussion.

The very nature of his head-first sprawl on the pitch should have rendered any immediate analysis futile simply on the basis that such trauma can have latent effects.

"He went through the concussion protocols and seemed to be coming up okay," Aussie coach Justin Langer had said unconvincingly after Smith didn't bat the next day.

"I asked him over and over, privately two or three times and in front of the group, the medical team cleared him and he said he was ready to go."

Frankly players in such state should, by default, lose their right to express interest in a game. Boxers beaten to pulp turn into rioters when refs halt a bout so why should it be different for other concussed athletes.

That Smith is reluctant to wear a protective lens under his helmet to avoid a fatal situation because he feels "claustrophobic" also should never be his prerogative. The safety and wellbeing of players should eclipse any individual preferences.

Games mutate and players adapt — that's the relative evolution of any sport.

Instead we have fans wading into spurious debates on whether rules should be changed to accommodate adroit batsmen from the deadly missiles of the ilk of the English recruit.

To be honest, Williamson's action, which has come under scrutiny in England before, should pale in comparison to the governing cricket body's desire to police deliveries designed to kill.

Why is New Zealand captain Kane Williamson bowling at all in Sri Lanka but, that aside, is his alleged chucking action more important than a head bouncer? Photo / AP

My solution will be scoffed at but the spinners' protractor problem can be resolved by simply allowing bowlers to bend arms until the cows come home.

How exciting will it be to see batsmen getting themselves in a knot trying to combat deliveries that have the propensity to turn 90 degrees on a sunbaked highway?

No one maimed, no lives lost and spectators left chuckling. Batsmen simply have to find smarter ways — think a comical Smith jumping, hopping, dancing to leave balls — to eke out runs.

In New Zealand, test seamer Neil Wagner's body-line bouncers have become a source of gratification when batsmen start settling in and wickets offer little profit.

I wonder how Kiwi fans will react if Archer scones Williamson or Taylor? What's even more scary is the Barbadian-born speed merchant knocking rabbits unconscious.

As for concussion protocols in other sports, it's going past the second Bledisloe Cup rugby test in Auckland on Saturday.

Did Richie Mo'unga pick up a shoulder injury or was he suffering from the effects of concussion in the 57th minute?

Take a look at the TV footage and you'll find Wallabies flanker Lukhan Salakaia-Loto wraps up Mo'unga in the tackle before two Aussies help drive the All Blacks first five-eighth into the ground.

No ifs and buts — Mo'unga's head hits the ground flush. As he sits there dazed, the joker in the green fluorescent vest with "medic" emblazoned on it says something before the pivot shakes his head and clutches his right shoulder. He didn't favour that shoulder when a tracksuit top was placed around him on the bench.

It just doesn't add up and it was nowhere near the grimace and clutch that Brodie Rettalick sported when helped off the park against the Springboks two matches earlier.

Will Mo'unga have a say, akin to Smith, on whether he is fit enough to go to the Rugby World Cup?

It brought back memories of a medic rolling Richie McCaw's arm in the Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney in 2014 after ball-carrier Kurtley Beale had charged into the head of the former ABs captain.

You see, policing chucking and concussions don't seem to be treated with the varying seriousness they deserve.

Until the authorities start doing that a tragedy is waiting to unfold, albeit even in latent concussion fashion.

That was in Perth but was it a shoulder injury or concussion for All Black pivot Richie Mo'unga in the second Bledisloe Cup rugby test. Photo / Photosport