Defiant Murali to bowl his doosra

Muttiah Muralitharan has vowed to defy the International Cricket Council and Sri Lanka's cricket board by continuing to bowl his controversial doosra during the second Test against Zimbabwe, which starts on Friday. Earlier, the ICC had warned that he risked being banned for a year if he continued to use it.

The euphoria of eclipsing Courtney Walsh to become the world's highest Test wicket-taker has proved short-lived, after the ICC released a statement during the week that said it "supports the decision of Sri Lanka Cricket to instruct Mr Muralitharan not to bowl his doosra delivery".

But Murali told the Sydney Morning Herald on the eve of Friday's game in Bulawayo: "I will bowl the doosra anyway. Until the Sri Lankan board tells me not to, I will. I think the problem is all the newspapers making the hype. If the ICC says I have to do something, I will look at my action. But nobody has said nothing to me."

Muralitharan, his state of mind volatile after what he believes is a witch-hunt, was left furious after the ICC release, especially after the scientists at the University of Western Australia had concluded that he should be allowed to continue using the delivery.

There were urgent discussions on Thursday between the team and Sri Lankan officials in Colombo. Team sources have revealed that Muralitharan is so upset that he is contemplating his international future.

Sri Lanka Cricket has insisted that, contrary to the ICC statement, it has not instructed Muralitharan to ditch the doosra: "We just said to him that we would prefer it if he didn't bowl the doosra," said Duleep Mendis, their chief executive. "We didn't instruct him. We told that to the manager sometime during the first Test."

Muralitharan bowled the delivery during the first Test, during which he claimed eight wickets to pocket the Man-of-the-Match award. But that has led to urgent discussions between the ICC and the match referee, Mike Procter. The ICC has privately left Procter in no doubt that he must report Muralitharan if bowls the delivery again.

The whole controversy takes place in the context of scientific debate over what levels of tolerance for arm-straightening would be appropriate after biomechanical research showed that the vast majority of bowlers flex their arms in the delivery swing.

Bruce Elliott and Marc Portus, the two leading authorities on the subject in Australia, are recommending to the ICC that the current levels - five degrees for spinners and ten for fast bowlers - should be increased and that the levels equalised for spinners and fast bowlers.

The ICC, which introduced tolerance levels in October 2002 and set the current levels in September 2003, has intimated that the tolerance levels could be changed after September following the completion of further research.