Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be able to bowl his controversial "doosra" under a recommendation from an International Cricket Council (ICC) committee.
The decision prompted former Sri Lankan Test player Aravinda de Silva to predict 32-year-old Muralitharan, the second-highest wicket taker in Test cricket with 532 victims, would end up taking at least 700 Test wickets.
"He has so much cricket left in him that I have little doubt that Murali will reach the 700-wicket mark in Test cricket," he told Reuters.
"The ICC has done the right thing (by clearing him to bowl his doosra) and he can go ahead with his usual repertoire of bowling. I am glad for Murali, who will be a relieved man now."
The "doosra", a leg spinner bowled from the front of the hand, was outlawed by the ICC last May after a report concluded Muralitharan bent his arm during delivery and so threw the ball.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the ICC said the committee had recommended that all bowlers be allowed to straighten their arms by up to 15 degrees.
At present spinners are permitted five degrees, medium pacers 7.5 and fast bowlers 10. Muralitharan's doosra was initially measured at around 14 degrees.
"Levels of tolerance are in place to deal with the reality that almost every bowler in international cricket will straighten his arm to some extent because of the bio-mechanical forces at work in his action," the statement said.
"Expert advice had identified that the recommended level of tolerance of 15 degrees will accommodate any straightening that is as a result of bio-mechanical forces at work in the action."
Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding, a member of the committee which was chaired by ex-India captain Sunil Gavaskar, said he had been convinced that all bowlers straightened their arm to some extent.
OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE
Holding said: "When bowlers, who to the naked eye look to have pure actions, are thoroughly analysed with the assistance of the sophisticated technology now in place they are likely to be shown as straightening their arm by 11 and in some cases 12 degrees.
"Under a strict interpretation of the law these players are breaking the rules. The game needs to deal with this reality and make its judgment as to how it accommodates this fact."
ICC general manager Dave Richardson said: "In order that all bowlers at all levels are treated in the same way and that the bowlers of today are treated in a similar manner to the bowlers of previous generations, the consistent position is to retain the naked eye viewing the action at normal speed as the starting point for any report."
Richardson said the ICC needed to find a way to respect the tradition and spirit of the game while still taking advantage of advances in technology.
"The issue of illegal actions has been a controversial one in cricket for decades and is often clouded by the emotional responses that accompany the reporting of a player," he said.
The recommendation will now go to the ICC for approval.
Muralitharan ,who has been called twice for throwing, is expected to make a comeback to Test cricket in the series against New Zealand in January after recovering from a shoulder injury. He has been out of action since August.
