Joburg Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis has questioned why Aaron Phangiso’s illegal bowling action was only picked up during the SA20 tournament.

The in-form Phangiso was suspended from bowling in the tournament at the end of January after the SA20’s independent bowling action panel confirmed his bowling action does not conform to ICC bowling regulations.

An illegal bowling action is where a player is throwing rather than bowling the ball. This is defined by the ICC as being where the player’s elbow extends by an amount of more than 15 degrees between their arm reaching the horizontal and the ball being released.

While it was a massive blow to Phangiso and his SA20 franchise, it also raised questions about exactly how it was allowed to happen.

This isn’t the first time the spinner has been called out for his action, the difference being that this is supposed to be the “fixed” version of his action after he went through remedial work in 2016.

He has been bowling with the same action in domestic competition since then but issues with it were, for whatever reason, only picked up halfway through the SA20.

READ: Phangiso fails bowling lab test

“It’s unfortunate. Phangi has bowled for a long time with that action,” said Du Plessis after Sunday’s win against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape at the Wanderers.

“The question now will now go back to the lead-up to the tournament: why wasn’t it picked up then? You don’t want stuff like that happening during a tournament, but he accepts that he needs to work on his action and he’s busy with the rehabilitation process now.

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“There have been a few guys who’ve gone through this process and come back to play again.

“He’s a great guy in the dressing room, we love having him and he was a really good performer for us in this campaign.”