The Sunday News
FORMER Zimbabwe senior national cricket team captain Prosper Utseya is an excited man after being cleared to bowl once more in international cricket by the International Cricket Council.
Utseya was given the green light to roll his arm over in international matches after undergoing remedial tests at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai, India on 23 November. The 29-year-old is still not allowed to bowl off spin which in the latest tests was still found to be beyond the 15 degrees limit for bowlers. He can only bowl his newly developed mystery action, a mixture of leg spin and pace bowling, the same as that of Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis and Sunile Narine of the West Indies.
The ex Zimbabwe skipper disclosed that he was happy that he can now play cricket at international level again with his focus now firmly set on making it into Zimbabwe’s final squad of 15 players for next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup to be staged in Australia and New Zealand.
Concerns have been raised as to whether after so much scrutiny to his bowling act, Utseya can still be effective as he was before but the bowler believes that he even offers more than he was prior to being called for having an illegal bowling action as his new action now offers him some variety.
“I can only bowl mystery spin, which is a combination of leg spin and pace, I have not been cleared to bowl off spin, my action is now similar to that of Mendis and Narine. I would be more effective, now I have a lot more variations, I would be a better bowler with this type of bowling action. They can take away my off spin but I can make the new action work for me, will still perform even better,’’ Utseya said.
“I am happy that at least I can play cricket, I can focus on the World Cup, I can add value to the team, I was disappointed with the performance in Bangladesh and I have learnt to adjust. I can face challenges and overcome, play as if it’s the last game, you never know what the future holds, I am now mentally tougher because of this experience,’’ added Utseya.
Prior to being cleared, Utseya had already been named in Zimbabwe provisional squad of 30 players for the Cricket World Cup which was announced last Tuesday.
He expressed his gratitude to his employers Zimbabwe Cricket for the support that they have offered during the two months.
“ZC have been really supportive, they got me to go to South Africa where I worked on my bowling action and to India for the retest, I am really humbled by their kind gesture,’’ Utseya said.
The bowler resumed training on his own in Harare last Friday in preparation for his club Takashinga’s tour of Uganda where he would be a player/coach. Takashinga leave the country tomorrow for east Africa where they will play the Ugandan national team in five 50 over matches.
Utseya’s troubles started in August when he was reported for a suspect bowling action by the umpires during the third One Day International between Zimbabwe and South Africa at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The match officials had issues with his faster delivery and arm ball.
He went for tests at the Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales with the scrutiny to his action revealing that he flexed his elbow beyond the 15 degrees permitted leading to him being prohibited from bowling in international cricket at the beginning of October.
After his ban, Utseya started to look at ways in which he could change his bowling action, spent two weeks working with South African coach Justin Summons in Johannesburg and turned out for Soweto Cricket Club to try out his new action.
Nicknamed “Mr Dots” because of the miserly spells he usually bowls in the shorter versions of the game, Utseya has picked up a combined 164 wickets in international cricket from four Tests, 156 ODIs and 29 Twenty20 Internationals. Called “Rowdy” by his local opponents which he actually believes is an opposite of what he is had since he made his international debut in 2004 never been previously reported for a suspect bowling action.
