Trinity’s cricket coach Sampath Perera and their physio Lasantha Herath are going to make the most of the hype surrounding spinner Raveen Sayer’s return to domestic cricket tournaments following the removal of his suspension.
Perera and Herath have applied for a patent for the ‘bowling arm extension locker’ which they produced to help Sayer rectify his illegal bowling action and are looking at producing them for financial gains.
“The ‘bowling arm extension locker’ is a device we made to help Sayer rectify the action. We followed the guidelines of the SLC’s coaching department and also introduced this device to help the bowler rectify his action,” said Perera who is eager to see the other banned bowlers getting the benefit of their product.
“After going through initial remedial process we introduced the ‘bowling arm extension locker’. He bowled with the brace and it helped him rectify the action. We want to market this brace and we have applied for a patent,” said Perera in a telephone interview with ‘The Island’ on Tuesday.
Perera and Herath have also developed a device which they have named ‘bottom hand grip releaser’ to help batsmen easily release the small finger, ring finger and middle finger of bottom hand when making top hand strokes.
The Trinity College spinner was one of some 90 plus school bowlers suspended for suspect bowling actions during the recent past. A former Sri Lanka Under-17 player, he missed country’s Under-19 team’s home series against Australia recently and many matches of the ongoing Under-19 tournament during his suspension.
The SLC has informed the school that his suspension has been removed after the Panel appointed as per the SLC Suspect Action Bowling Protocol cleared his bowling action.
He was scheduled to play last week but after rain washed off the match, he will play for United Southern against Kandy CC in a club match over the weekend before playing an inter school match next week or in early November.
According to SLC’s coaching department, Sayer’s action will be monitored by the Coaching Department, as per the terms in the protocol.
However Sayer is advised to refrain from bowling the Doosra as there is an excessive extension of the bowling arm. “It was noted that Raveen is unable to bowl the Doosra with a straighter arm even after the remedial programme,” the SLC’s letter to Trinity says.
