South Africa spinner Aaron Phangiso's bowling action has been determined as illegal, following independent tests conducted at the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre, an ICC accredited laboratory. The assessment revealed that all of Phangiso's deliveries exceeded the permissible 15-degree limit.
In accordance with the CSA Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions, Phangiso has been suspended from bowling in domestic cricket, with the board also confirming that the bowler will not be selected for the first two home T20Is against Australia, starting March 4. Phangiso will, however, remain with the squad to work alongside South Africa's spin bowling coach Claude Henderson and CSA's high performance manager Vinnie Barnes in an effort to remedy his action.
Phangiso's chances of being retained in the squad for the World Twenty20 in India hinge on a second round of independent tests next week.
"The timing of this issue for Aaron and for our World T20 squad is clearly inopportune but we need to deal with it. We will work hard to remedy Aaron's action and have him retested as soon as practically possible," Haroon Lorgat, CSA's chief executive, said. "We are fortunate to have an ICC accredited Laboratory in South Africa and this will certainly make a quick turnaround possible."
Phangiso had been reported for a suspect action following his team Lions' win against Warriors in the semi-final of the Momentum One Day Cup. It was the third time this year that Phangiso had made headlines for the wrong reasons.
In January, it emerged that Phangiso had been prevented from boarding an international flight following South Africa's ODI series win in India because he was drunk and disorderly, forcing CSA to subsequently hand him an unknown sanction. Last week, Phangiso had to apologise for being caught on camera pretending to sniff an unknown substance off his leg during a T20I against England at the Wanderers. Phangiso was in the dug out and his gesture took place when South Africa were batting. He said it was a lighthearted joke but understood that in a country with a drug problem, it was inappropriate
Should Phangiso fail to make the squad for the World T20, South Africa's selectors have time till March 8 to find another back-up spinner for Imran Tahir. Eddie Leie, the likeliest replacement for Phangiso, suffered a hamstring injury during the Momentum Cup final and was forced to leave the field.