Date-stamped : 31 Dec95 - 18:31 BENT ARM DOESN`T LEND RULE - SAYS FORMER AUSSIE OFF-SPINNER YARDLEY BY KIM HAGDORN FORMER Test bowler Bruce Yardley has scoffed at allegations that Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralidharan is a chucker. Muralidharan`s right arm does not straighten in delivery and does not contravene rules of cricket, according to Yardley. Instead, Yardley, who coached the exciting young spinner four years ago, called on international authorities and umpires to exam- ine actions of some of the game`s leading fast bowlers. He said pace bowlers were more likely to throw bouncers than Mu- ralidharan would throw off-spinners. The Sri Lankan has already snared 78 Test scalps in just 21 matches (before the Perth Test) since making his debut against the Australians in Colombo in August 1992. "If the powers want to start looking at actions, they should take a closer look at the quicks,`` Yardley barked in defence of his former pupil. "If you look at any slow-motion analysis of most fast bowlers, that`s when you`ll see bowlers throwing.`` Yardley said that when he first worked with Muralidharan, the then college student did throw his off-spinners. But he now labels the slightly built 23-year-old as the best off-spinner in the world. "He definitely chucked when I saw him in Sri Lanka in 1991,`` Yardley recalled. "He was wide on the bowling crease, chest-on and he was straightening his bowling arm just at the point of delivery. "It took just a few adjustments, with an action closer to the stumps and more side-on, and he was bowling fine.`` Yardley, the 1981-82 International Cricketer of the Year and veteran of 33 Tests and 126 Test wickets, said he was not suprised at close international scrutiny of Muralidharan`s unusual action. "He`s got a different action and he`s a big wicket-taker. There aren`t too many off-spinners in world cricket that take big bags of wickets like he does,`` he said. "Obviously people are going to ask questions. "He`s the best off-spinner I`ve ever seen. "If any umpire can pick up, without the aid of some very ela- borate and state-of-the-art, slow-motion video equipment whether a spinner`s arm straightens, I`ll go walk.`` Muralidharan`s suspect action has remained a contentious issue since his initiation into Test ranks, when he bowled current Test star Mark Waugh and former international batsman Tom Moody with giant- spinning deliveries in 1992. Sri Lanka authorities are believed to have been "warned`` by England officials in 1991 not to play the young spinner in any further matches after just one county appearance because of fears of a major international "throwing`` controversy. Source :: Lake House/Lanka Internet Services Contributed by vg (vpg0001@jove.acs.unt.edu)