The International Cricket Council (ICC) has accredited five centres around the world – in Brisbane, Chennai, Cardiff, Loughborough and Pretoria – as testing facilities for the ICC ‘Regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions’.

Each facility was required to meet a range of criteria, including having an indoor area large enough to allow a player to perform his or her normal full run up, a three-dimensional motion analysis system with a minimum of 12 high-speed cameras, as well as suitably qualified personnel, experienced in using such systems and implementing the ICC testing protocol.

Testing is conducted in the Cricket South Africa Centre of Excellence and is overseen by Dr Helen Bayne, head biomechanist at the High Performance Centre and member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists. The Institute for Sports Research’s state-of-the-art Vicon motion capture system will not only be used to assess illegal bowling actions, but also to conduct a number of biomechanical research projects on sports performance and injury.