Cricket: Banning of Pakistani bowler good news for NZ batsmen

Pakistani offspinner Saeed Ajmal has been brought to book for his action. Photo / AP

New Zealand's batsmen are entitled to approach their demanding series against Pakistan with a touch more confidence, now that Saeed Ajmal has been rubbed out of the game.

The Pakistani offspinner has been suspended by the International Cricket Council after all his deliveries - not just his doosra - were deemed illegal after being reported by umpires after the first test of their tour to Sri Lanka in Galle last month.

He was tested at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, where he received a large red X.

Pakistan are arguably New Zealand's toughest test rivals. In 13 three-test series since 1955-56, New Zealand have won just two - in Pakistan in 1969 and at home in 1984-85 (think the Coney-Chatfield last-wicket heroics in Dunedin) - and lost eight, with two drawn.

No Ajmal for the tests at Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in November is no guarantee of success. But put it this way: it doesn't hurt.

Ajmal, 36, was a late bloomer into international cricket. He passed one ICC inspection in May 2009 but the distinctive bend in his arm has long attracted criticism and questions whether it exceeded the ICC's 15-degree rule over straightening the arm in delivery.

Pakistan have had four highly successful test spinners - the disgraced and now banned Danish Kaneria (61 tests, 261 wickets), the bouncy genius that was Abdul Qadir (67, 236), Saqlain Mushtaq, credited with introducing the doosra, which looks like an offspinner but behaves like a leggie (49, 208), and Ajmal, who has taken 178 wickets in 35 tests.

The ICC deserves credit for seeming to be more proactive on throwing of late.

Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake, West Indian Shane Shillingford and New Zealand's part-timer Kane Williamson have all been sent away for remedial work in the past year.

The Pakistan board initially harrumphed at the Ajmal decision and prepared an appeal, then backed down. That the PCB has an illegal bowling committee tells its own story.

Saqlain, who remains adamant the doosra can be bowled legally, as you would expect, given that he's credited as its originator, has been asked to work with Ajmal to fix his action.

There's one interesting theory on how Ajmal passed his test in 2009, but failed this year.

Apparently since being cleared in that first examination, he's bowled over 18,000 international deliveries, plus domestic and various T20 league work.

He has been the mainstay of Pakistan's attack, bowling around 30 per cent of his country's test overs.

So how much strain has that workload placed on his arm?

Not to say that's a legitimate excuse, but Saqlain is one who has raised it as, at the least, a possible contributing factor.

"If you tire yourself too much it might affect your strength and power, it might affect your flexibility, it could reduce your bowling speed."

The PCB has admitted it can't fight the scientific evidence.

As Ajmal's services had been substantial, the board added, "we are putting every effort to help himout".

Time is not on his side, however. The days of scrabbling about trying to work out what Ajmal was serving up may be running out.

To which the world's batsmen may shout a collective "about time, too".