Aaron Phangiso has been cleared to represent South Africa at the World T20 after he successfully adjusted his bowling action.
Phangiso was last week suspended from bowling in Cricket South Africa’s domestic competitions after his action was found to be illegal. An assessment revealed that all variations of his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.
He was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during the One-Day Cup eliminator match against the Warriors.
Phangiso was subsequently not considered for the first two T20Is against Australia. He remained with the squad and worked alongside spin bowling coach, Claude Henderson and CSA’s High Performance Manager, Vinnie Barnes, to remedy his action.
An independent re-assessment on Monday found that Phangiso’s action for all deliveries is within the parameters as laid down by the ICC regulations and his suspension from bowling in CSA competitions was lifted with immediate effect.
Phangiso expressed his relief at having successfully remedied his action and passed the tests on Monday.
‘It’s a huge relief to be cleared and to have my bowling action passed, it has been a tough and challenging few weeks for me,’ he said.
‘Many thanks to Cricket South Africa and the Proteas management for their support and for giving me the best opportunity of making it to India for the World T20. In saying that, I’d really like to use the next few days ahead of the tournament to gain playing confidence, especially with some of the technical adjustments we have made to my action.
‘My focus is on the World Cup and I’d really like to head into the competition with good form and confidence.’
Proteas coach Russell Domingo confirmed that Phangiso will not feature in the deciding T20 against Australia despite a desire by the selectors to give all the players a run before they leave for the T20 World Cup.
‘We are really happy and relieved that Aaron has passed his re-test and he can now ready himself for the big tournament ahead,’ Domingo said.
‘I said at the beginning of the series that we wanted to give everyone in the squad an opportunity to play and while it is tempting to play him on Wednesday, both Aaron and I feel it’s best that he takes a little more time to work on and gain confidence with his new adjustments.
‘We have an important few weeks coming up in India so it’s going to be important to have him in the right frame of mind both mentally and physically.’
