Irish spinner Aimee Maguire cleared to resume bowling in international cricket

by IANS |

Dubai, Aug 5 (IANS) Ireland’s young left-arm spinner Aimee Maguire has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to resume bowling in international cricket with immediate effect, following a successful reassessment of her bowling action.

Maguire was reported for a suspect bowling action during the first ODI of the ICC Women’s Championship series against India, held in Rajkot on January 10 this year. She subsequently underwent a bowling assessment at the ICC Accredited testing centre in Loughborough, United Kingdom, on 21 January, where it was revealed that the amount of elbow extension in her bowling action exceeds the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations.

"Following remedial work and reassessment, the bowling action of Ireland spinner Aimee Maguire has been found to be legal, and she can resume bowling in international cricket," the ICC said in a statement.

"An independent assessment of Maguire’s remodelled bowling action at an ICC-accredited testing centre concluded that the amount of elbow extension was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations," it added.

Graeme West, Director of High Performance at Cricket Ireland, said, "We are delighted with the results from Aimee’s testing at Loughborough. Aimee has put in an incredible amount of work to re-model her action, and full credit must go to James Cameron-Dow and the entire Senior Women’s Team support staff and playing squad who have supported Aimee over the last six months. We will gradually integrate Aimee back into the senior squad high performance programme, and look forward to watching Aimee resume her international career.”

Aimee is the younger sister of Ireland's opening bowler Jane Maguire and came into limelight when she took career-best figures of 5-19 against England in her team’s first win against their closest neighbours since 2002 in last year.

So far, she has played 11 ODIs and nine T20Is for Ireland and picked 25 wickets overall.

Ireland will face Pakistan for a three-match T20I series at home, starting on Wednesday.