Mystery surrounds Shoaib Akhtar 'allegations'

Mystery surrounds the origins of rumours that Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is under scrutiny in Australia over his bowling action.

Reports started circulating in the Australian media on Monday afternoon that a 15-minute videotape of Akhtar bowling during the Western Australia v Pakistan match last Wednesday had been prepared on the request of the two umpires standing in that game, Terry Prue and Ross Emerson, for forwarding to the Australian Cricket Board.

No mention was made in the umpires' report of the game of any concerns over the bowling action of Akhtar or anyone else. Both umpires have declined to comment on the rumours - as is consistent with their code of conduct. The Australian Cricket Board have confirmed that no adverse report has been made, and deny the existence of any video.

A number of media outlets in Australia reported the existence of the video on Monday evening and in Tuesday's newspapers, without giving sources for their information. One report this evening claimed that the videotape was in the mail to the ACB's office in Melbourne, but delayed due to the public holiday in Victoria for the Melbourne Cup.

Under what jurisdiction the umpires would have powers to commission a video, whether they made an adverse report or not, is not apparent under regulations governing these matches. Nor is it apparent who within the ACB would have the powers to scrutinise such a video and do anything about it.

Nonetheless, the Pakistan team camp, in Brisbane for the tour match against Queensland, were angered at what they heard in the media, with the words "Shoaib chucking controversy" being bandied about on television and in the press, especially with memories of past throwing controversies on Sri Lanka's last two tours of Australia.

This evening (Tuesday) the Pakistan Cricket Board issued a press release stating that "Australian umpire Emerson has been widely criticised for his statement on Pakistani Fast Bowler Shoaib Akhtar", citing Peter Burge (match referee at the Queensland v Pakistan game, and an ICC match referee) among those who had "categorically expressed regrets on Emerson's action and statement on Shoaib Akhtar". This was despite the fact that neither Emerson nor his co-umpire Prue have made any public statements on the matter at any time.

ACB Operations General Manager, Richard Watson, assured Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed today that no complaint about Akhtar had been received by the Board. The PCB press release quotes Yawar as saying "we are here to play good cricket....So please let's all look forward to the forthcoming Test matches and enjoy the game".

The bottom line, with two and a half days till the start of the First Test, seems to be that there is no report, no complaint, no video and no problem. If that is the case, where have these reports originated and why?