Zimbabwe seamer Vitori suspended for illegal action

The suspension is “with immediate effect” after the Event Panel of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Harare confirmed that the left-arm fast bowler has an illegal action.

This is the third instance where Brian Vitori has been reported for suspect bowling action.

Zimbabwe’s left-arm seamer Brian Vitori was on Thursday suspended from bowling in international cricket after his action was found to be illegal by the ICC.

The suspension is “with immediate effect” after the Event Panel of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Harare confirmed that the left-arm fast bowler has an illegal action.

The 28-year-old was reported by the match officials following his side’s non-broadcast match against Nepal on Sunday.

“As per Article 3.6.2 of the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations, Vitori’s bowling action was filmed in the next match he played after being reported, which was against Afghanistan on Tuesday, and the video footage of his bowling spells were provided to the Event Panel of Helen Bayne and Mark King, who are both members of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, for analysis and assessment,” the ICC said in a statement.

The panel concluded that Vitori’s action is illegal and, “in accordance with Article 6.5 of the regulations, he has been immediately suspended from bowling in international cricket“.

Vitori’s will remain suspended till an assessment of his action at an ICC approved Testing Center concludes that his bowling action is legal. Meanwhile, the Event Technical Committee has allowed the Zimbabwe team to replace Vitori with Richard Ngarava.

Ngarava is a left-arm fast bowler and a lower-order batsman, who has played in six ODIs, taking eight wickets and scoring 12 runs. His last ODI for Zimbabwe was against Scotland in Edinburgh in June 2017. Vitori was originally suspended from bowling in January 2016 but was permitted to resume in June the same year following an independent reassessment where his action was found to be legal.

He was again reported during the Bulawayo ODI against Sri Lanka the same year and was subsequently suspended for 12 months after an independent assessment revealed an illegal bowling action.

Vitori underwent reassessment of his bowling action at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria in January this year and was allowed to resume bowling.