In a cricket career spanning over 20 years, Brad Hogg has watched revolutionary changes to the game unfold.
With a sunny disposition and appreciation of how Twenty20 has extended his time in the game, not much has rattled Hogg.
An exception is the rise of the doosra – the offspinner’s version of the googly that requires a cocked wrist.
The legality of the controversial delivery has been debated by biomechanical experts, players, coaches and officials for 10 years.
As a 43-year-old who is contemplating a shift into coaching when his playing career ends, Hogg feels there has been too much talk and not enough action.
“I know it’s a controversial subject, but being a spinner that’s the biggest thing that disappoints me in our game,” Hogg told AAP.
“There’s no clarity. I’m bamboozled how some blokes are getting reported for it and others aren’t.
“Then they go and get tested and all of a sudden they’re fine. They’re not tested under the rigours of playing out in the middle, when games are on the line.
“That’s when you’ve got to be tested. You’re either throwing or your not.”
The International Cricket Council (ICC) changed its laws in 2004 to permit all bowlers to bend then straighten their arms by up to 15 degrees.
Biomechanical studies of ‘legal’ bowling actions found they actually straightened their arms by up to 12 degrees.
Hogg suggested bowlers have pushed boundaries since then, and will continue to do so unless there are greater controls in place.
“As a specialist spinner, the disappointing thing is we’ve probably had more people reported over the last couple of years since we’ve gone to 15 degrees,” he said.
“More people have had to go and get their actions diagnosed.
“You’ve changed the rules and things have gotten worse in that aspect of the game.
“We talk about it in the changerooms. If someone’s got a suspect action (and wants to bowl the doosra), we laugh about it and my advice is to just do it. Everyone else is doing it.
“The rules have been bent to help bowlers of that nature, and I think we’ve gone too far that we can’t come back.
“Australian kids are going to have to start doing it if we want to compete on the same stage.”
Hogg refused to name which tweakers are getting away with the most, noting it is a broad issue in the game and that individuals shouldn’t be blamed for making the most of the laws.
“I’m not having a go at these players personally, they’re all great people,” he said.
“It’s just I want rules to be clear and correct.”
South Australia captain Johan Botha and West Indies’ Shane Shillingford are two recent examples of spinners whose doosras have been banned.
Retired Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq, credited as being the first to master the doosra, bowled the delivery legally with no suspicion of throwing.
