Cricket's highest wicket-taker (800 Test wickets) whose bowling action was repeatedly questioned, creating one of the sport's longest-running controversies.
15 incidents documented
West Indies / KKR
1 November 2014
West Indian spinner Sunil Narine was reported for a suspect bowling action multiple times across various tournaments, highlighting the ongoing challenges of policing bowling actions in modern cricket.
Sri Lanka vs India
2010-07-22
Murali needed one wicket to reach 800 in his final Test but kept being denied, creating incredible tension before Pragyan Ojha finally became his 800th victim with the last ball.
England vs Pakistan
20 August 2006
Umpire Darrell Hair penalized Pakistan five runs for ball tampering and changed the ball during the fourth Test at The Oval, leading Pakistan to refuse to take the field and becoming the first team to forfeit a Test match.
England vs Pakistan
17-20 August 2006
Umpire Darrell Hair accused Pakistan of ball tampering. Pakistan refused to take the field after tea, and the match was forfeited — the first forfeiture in Test history.
Sri Lanka vs England
23 January 1999
Umpire Ross Emerson called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. Captain Arjuna Ranatunga nearly led his team off the field in protest.
Pakistan
1996-09-15
In the mid-1990s, Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq developed the doosra — a delivery that turned away from a right-hand batter while looking like a stock off-break. Pakistan keeper Moin Khan named it 'doosra' (the other one); the delivery transformed off-spin and triggered a decade of chucking debates.
India vs Sri Lanka
1996-03-13
On March 13, 1996, an estimated 110,000 spectators at Eden Gardens watched India collapse from 98/1 to 120/8 chasing 252 against Sri Lanka. As the Indian innings disintegrated, sections of the crowd set fire to the stands and threw bottles onto the field. Match referee Clive Lloyd halted play, returned briefly, and finally awarded the semi-final to Sri Lanka. Vinod Kambli walked off in tears.
Sri Lanka vs Various
1 January 1996
Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action was questioned repeatedly over a decade, leading to fundamental changes in cricket's throwing laws and biomechanical testing protocols.
India vs Sri Lanka
13 March 1996
The 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens was abandoned after Indian fans rioted, hurling bottles and setting fires when India's batting collapsed against Sri Lanka's spinners.
International cricket
26 December 1995
Darrell Bruce Hair — DB Hair on scorecards — was the Australian umpire born 30 September 1952 in Mudgee NSW who stood in 78 Tests (1992–2008). His full name: Darrell Bruce Hair. Best known for no-balling Muralitharan in 1995 and the forfeited 2006 Oval Test.
Australia vs Sri Lanka
26 December 1995
Umpire Darrell Hair no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan seven times for a suspect bowling action during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, sparking a massive controversy.
Australia vs Sri Lanka
26 December 1995
Umpire Darrell Hair called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing seven times during the Boxing Day Test, igniting one of cricket's longest-running controversies.
Australia vs Sri Lanka
26 December 1995
Australian umpire Darrell Hair no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan seven times for throwing during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, igniting one of cricket's longest-running controversies.
Australia v England
1898-01-01
On 1 January 1898 at the MCG, umpire Jim Phillips called Australia's Ernie Jones for throwing — the first bowler ever no-balled for a suspect action in a Test match. Jones, the South Australian fast bowler famous for sending a ball through W.G. Grace's beard the previous summer, had been called once before the Test by Phillips in a tour match. The Melbourne call set off a 'chucking question' that would consume English county cricket through 1900-01 and end Arthur Mold's career.
Various county and representative sides
1864-06-01
The legalisation of overarm bowling in 1864 created an immediate grey zone: how high could the arm go, and at what point did a fast delivery become an illegal throw? Through the 1860s English cricket struggled with this question as a succession of fast bowlers developed actions that umpires suspected but rarely no-balled, creating a climate of suspicion that would recur in every generation of cricket thereafter.