James Kirtley is a rising star in the England team

"It wasn't necessarily a knock on my technical level, rather it felt like a personal knock to try to explain my success.

"I clearly don't have the classic build of a fast bowler and they evidently couldn't accept that I could bowl fast.

"We got footage from all sorts of angles at Sussex, who said they were more than happy with what they saw.

"After all, they have seen me bowl for six or seven years and it is not as if there had been a problem before."

Last year, Sussex contacted Brighton University's biomechanics department, which has studied the techniques of cyclist Chris Boardman, athlete Paula Radcliffe and several West Ham footballers.

The arm hyper-extends during the delivery

The university filmed Kirtley's bowling action using three-dimensional analysis. The footage was given to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Kirtley was cleared last November.

Two high-speed cameras - filming at 50 frames per second - are placed at different angles and synchronised to give an all-round view of the bowler's arm.

This is the same method that the University of Western Australia used to clear Muralitharan in 1998.

The footage showed that Kirtley - like Muralitharan - has an abnormally large carrying angle.

If the average person holds his arm out in a straight line from the shoulder, his elbow and hand will also be in line.

The two bowlers, though, are hypermobile. So while shoulder and elbow are in a straight line, the hand points towards the ground, giving the impression that the elbow is bent.

"I can understand why umpires might think that the bowler is throwing," Brighton University's Rob Harley said.

Shoaib is another who has had 'chucking' problems

"When an umpire looks at a bowler, or when he views two-dimensional television footage it may appear that the carrying angle changes."

The problem for Kirtley could be that this is exactly what the match referee is doing before making his conclusions.

Having appeared powerless to deal with the allegations against Shoaib and Lee, the ICC announced a new three-stage process for dealing with the problem.

Rather than allowing individual countries to decide whether their own bowler's action is legal - a Turkey and Christmas issue - the ICC set up a review group to make a final decision.

First, the match referee makes a statement to the media confirming that a suspect action has been reported - something Ali has yet to do in this case.

The issue is then passed on to the home board's bowling advisors to work with the player to correct his action. During this period the bowler will be allowed to continue playing.

If the player is reported again within 12 months of the first report the ICC will appoint an advisor to work directly with the player on his action, with the bowler still allowed to compete.

Kirtley's hyperextension has attracted attention

A third report within 12 months will see the bowling review group vote on whether an action is illegal. The bowler could then be banned from bowling for 12 months.

In practice, the stigma of being labelled a 'chucker' forces many bowlers to jump before they are pushed.

England and Surrey slow left-arm spinner Tony Lock was occasionally no-balled in the 1950s when he bowled a quicker ball. He resolved the situation by not bowling the faster delivery.

Australian Ian Meckiff was forced to retire at the age of 32 after he was no-balled four times in one over in the Brisbane Test against South Africa in 1963-64.

Kirtley was cleared just under a year ago. But if he is reported again, he must go through the whole process once more.

"No bowler can be given clearance for life. Actions can change and bowlers can change," John Carr, director of ECB cricket operations, told BBC Sport Online.

Harley and his team at Brighton say they would be happy to go through the process with Kirtley again.