Johan Botha has advice for Kuhnemann after suspect action call will see him get his action evaluated and tested.
Johan Botha believes Matthew Kuhnemann will always wear the stigma of having his action reported regardless of whether he is cleared or not.
Match officials reported Kuhnemann, who plays for Heat under Botha, for having a questionable bowling motion during Australia’s second Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle last week.
Even if Kuhnemann is cleared, he still faces a challenging road ahead, according to Botha, who had issues with his bowling action throughout his career.
“It is a long process and unfortunately either way if you get cleared or not it will always be there,” Botha told SEN in Brisbane. “Guys think it’s a one-off and you get rid of it. That is not how it is. It is a bit of a process. For now he will have to bowl at a very similar speed and revolutions as he did in the Tests. Nothing gets changed now.
“He needs to try and prove himself not guilty and from there on if it is a ball or so over 15 degrees he will obviously have some work to do, then a long process starts. It never goes away because there is always someone in the crowd, someone in the opposition, or a match referee who wants to have a say or wants to feel a part of it.
“Unfortunately this will be part of it now. It is never the guy who gets 0 for 100. It is the guys who get wickets and affect games. They are the ones under scrutiny. Guys want to have a look at it and try and find fault.”
Throughout his eight-year professional career, including his 2022 debut playing ODI cricket for Australia in Sri Lanka and his 2023 Test debut, which included three Test matches during the 2023 tour of India, Kuhnemann has never been reported.
Botha went on to say that exhaustion might have been the reason his action was questioned towards the conclusion of the second Test.
“He bowled quite a lot balls in the Test series. As you get tired your action gets put under pressure,” Botha said. “I know he likes to bowl. He bowled quite a lot during the Big Bash. He went to Australia training when they were at the Gabba during the Big Bash.
“I’d be interested to see when the umpires thought or the match referee thought it was not as clean as they would have liked it. And I would guess it could be later in the game. When you start getting tired, the ball is older and softer and you have to try and generate a little bit more pace. Whereas with the new ball it obviously comes off the wicket a bit quicker so I don’t think you need to force it so much.”