'Chucking' through history

LONDON, Jan 1 (Reuters): No cricketer has ever experienced such emotional extremes during the course of a single match as South African fast bowler Geoff Griffin.

In the Lord's Test of 1960, Griffin became the first man to take a hattrick for South Africa and the first person to perform the feat at cricket's world headquarters.

But he also became the first man to be no-balled for throwing in a Test in England, 11 times in total by Frank Lee.

In an exhibition match after the Test finished early, Griffin was again no-balled, this time by Sid Buller. He was forced to finish his last over under-arm, played the rest of the tour as a batsman only and was never picked by his country again.

The problem of illegal actions, which resurfaced on Friday when Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was suspended, was a serious issue for the game's authorities in the early 1960s.

The England team who lost 4-0 to Australia in 1958 were convinced that a number of bowlers they met on that unhappy tour were throwers.

They were particularly concerned by Ian Meckiff, who generated disturbing speed from a casual approach. Meckiff took 17 wickets at 17.17 runs each in four Tests, including nine for 107 in the second Test in Melbourne.

Two England bowlers, Tony Lock and Peter Loader, deliberately threw the ball in the nets against their own batsmen to give them practice against an attack which also included the giant Gordon Rorke.

Rorke's action was regarded as suspicious and in addition, in the days before the introduction of the front foot no-ball rule, he dragged his back foot well over the bowling crease.

Asked by an innocent why he did not get forward to drive the Australian fast bowler, Colin Cowdrey replied he had not wanted to step on his toe.

England were not unscarred by the controversy. Lock, a devastating left-arm spinner on the uncovered pitches of the 1950s, had already been no-balled in the West Indies.

His faster ball was almost certainly a throw and, after England travelled on to New Zealand, he was so shocked by film of his bowling taken by the Kiwi skipper John Reid that he remodelled his action on his return home.

During the South Africa tour of 1960, Derbyshire fast bowler Harold Rhodes was no-balled six times by Paul Gibb in a match against the tourists.

Rhodes was no-balled later in the season by both Gibb and Buller and did not play Test cricket again.

In November, 1960, the England and Australia authorities agreed a truce on throwing while they set their respective houses in order.

Meckiff continued to represent his country, albeit with a modified action which sharply reduced his effectiveness.

In the first Test against South Africa in December, 1963, he was no-balled by Colin Egar for throwing his second, third, fifth and ninth balls.

Australia captain Richie Benaud withdrew Meckiff from the attack and decided not to try him at the other end. He retired from first class cricket immediately after the match.

The Meckiff case effectively ended throwing as a serious issue in cricket, although there were rumblings from the Australians in the Caribbean two years later over the fearsome Charlie Griffith.

Griffith had been no-balled in the 1961-2 series against India and was to be no-balled again in England in 1966.

The most prominent case in recent years has involved the Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowls with a bent arm.

The International Cricket Council has twice cleared Muralitharan, ruling that he does not straighten his arm during delivery.