It was sometime in the late 2006 when he got pulled up by the ICC for illegal bowling action for the second time in his career, and was thereby temporarily suspended from bowling in international cricket. His career has been a rough ride since then. This year once again the umpires Rudi Koertzen, Brian Jerling and Ashoka de Silva reported him for suspect action in the fourth One day International against Australia in Port Elizabeth, thus stealing his opportunity to play at the IPL on home soil.  

ICC rules state that any bowler reported for suspect action can continue till tests prove that their elbow flexion exceeds 15 degrees. But he had to sit out during the 5th ODI against Australia in Johannesburg.

The IPL franchise team Rajasthan Royals had approached Botha for a lucrative contract, but his suspect action prevented them from taking the deal any further. Although the owners of the Franchise refused to comment on it, it is believed that the defending champions of the 1st season were keen on using his services, especially since some of their star bowlers like Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson and Shaun Tait are no longer part of the team.  

Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers' Association, is quoted telling Cricinfo: "I am aware that there had been a sniff from an IPL franchise, but the focus now is to get him tested and cleared... I am sure that if he is cleared, there will be a lot of [IPL] interest in him.

"I was actually surprised that he wasn't picked up earlier; because he is without doubt one of the best Twenty20 bowlers in international cricket. But the most important thing is to get to Perth and hopefully get the all-clear to resume his international career."

Supplementing that Botha told the Cape Times, "I have been approached by one or two IPL franchises to play but I can't as I need to be cleared fully before I can play in the IPL... It would be great to play in the IPL but I'm more concerned about being ready to play in the Twenty20 World Championship later in 2009... The whole exercise has been very frustrating. I hope they can get it all sorted out now. I'm hoping the results are good in Perth so that nobody will question my action again."

Botha is to fly to Perth, to the University of Western Australia for his tests, early next week.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: