Former Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday welcomed the International Cricket Council's move to conduct research on the action of spinners, but said that fast bowlers should also be brought under scrutiny.
"It is a good step. But why target only the spinners? The same should be done with fast bowlers as well. I am sure the ICC will come out with a detailed programme on this soon," Ranatunga told the Press Trust of India in New Delhi.
Ranatunga, also Sri Lanka's deputy minister for tourism, was in town to participate in an international marketing conference on ecological and rural tourism organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Also present on the occasion were Sri Lanka's top bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka's tourism ambassadors, to promote the island nation as a tourist destination in cricketing countries."Muralitharan and Vaas have already given their consent to this proposal [of becoming tourism ambassadors] and we are working towards finalising it," the former skipper said.
He said star sprinter Susantika Jayasinghe is also likely to be roped in as a tourism ambassador.
Cricket's world governing body has said that it will study the bowling action of all spinners during next month's ICC Champions Trophy in England. Cameras filming at 250 frames per second will be installed at all grounds during the tournament to create three-dimensional computer images of the actions of the bowlers.
Ranatunga also came down heavily on his country's cricket board, blaming it for the controversy surrounding Muralitharan's 'doosra' and said the officials had acted like "idiots" in the entire episode. "I don't think the ICC is to be blamed for the entire episode. It is our cricket board officials who are to be blamed," he said.
"There is a mechanism in place whenever a bowler is called for chucking. The technical committee back home studies the entire matter and then sends its report to the ICC's technical committee," Ranatunga said.
"Instead of doing this, they [the board] sent him to Australia to undertake a very sophisticated test, which no one had taken earlier. Now you cannot blame the ICC for it."
The bowling action of Muralitharan, the world's highest wicket-taker in Tests, came under scrutiny for the third time after match referee Chris Broad of England reported him to the ICC after the home series against Australia in March this year.
Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to a World Cup triumph in 1996, also supported Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on the seven-batsmen-four-bowlers formula. "I personally feel playing seven batsmen is a very good ploy," he said. "Sri Lanka did the same in the 1996 World Cup. Only thing is that they should ask a couple of top-order batsmen to work more on their bowling."
