The 15 Degrees Rule
Law 24, Clause 3 defines a fair delivery with respect to the arm:
“A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler's arm has reached the level
of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or
completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a
bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing.”
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This Law proved to be impossible to enforce, as virtually all bowlers flex and extend
their arm to some extent as it rotates around the shoulder.
In the 1990’s, it was decided that a threshold would apply to each type of bowler.
Fast bowlers would be allowed 10 degrees, medium pace bowlers 7.5 degrees and
spin bowlers 5 degrees. Not surprisingly, this approach was also unworkable.
In 2003, the ICC determined that the maximum permissible elbow extension for all
bowlers would be 15 degrees.
Interesting Fact:
In September 2014, Pakistan bowler Saeed Ajmal was banned for an illegal action.
Subsequent testing showed that Ajmal’s off-break was bowled with an elbow extension of 43 degrees
– almost three times the legal limit!
© 2014 GAT