ST JOHN’S, Antigua CMC – West Indies off-spinner Shane Shillingford has been cleared to return to international cricket nearly six months after he was banned for an illegal bowling action.
The West Indies Cricket Board said yesterday it had been notified of the development by the International Cricket Council, following biomechanical bowling analysis done by a research team at the University of Western Australia late last month.
Shillingford, who has played five Tests, has undergone remedial work on his action in recent months at the High Performance Centre in Barbados.
“I am extremely happy that I have been cleared to continue playing international cricket. It has been what I always wanted to do and having to overcome this hurdle has made me stronger and more determined to succeed,” the 28-year-old said.
“I put in a lot of hard work over the past few months and I must thank the West Indies Cricket Board for the support and particularly the Sagicor High Performance Centre where the majority of the work was done.”
Shillingford’s action was reported following the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle last November. Since then, he has not played competitively, missing the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship in January and the subsequent Regional First Class Championship.
Instead, he worked with a battery of coaches including West Indies A team head coach and former Barbados off-spinner Hendy Springer, West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson, former HPC head coach Toby Radford and current HPC head coach Andre Coley.
“It was evident that Mr Shillingford, under the guidance of the WICB coaching staff has undergone significant remediation work on his technique,” the research team, headed by Professor Bruce Elliott, reported.
Shillingford, who made his international debut last June against South Africa and has taken 14 wickets, said the HPC had been instrumental in his comeback.
“The HPC has proved to be a tremendous benefit to me in these challenging times and I have nothing but praise for the Centre,” he noted. “I want to specially thank coaches Gibson, Springer, Radford, Coley and (Thomas) Kentish and my manager Darwin Telemaque for their support and guidance throughout this process.”
Shillingford could now find himself in the selection brew for the India series which started yesterday with a Twenty20 International in Trinidad.