Nathan Lyon has backed calls for bowling testing processes to be conducted behind closed doors after Matthew Kuhnemann faced potential reputational damage when he was reported to the ICC for a suspect action.
The senior Aussie spinner says he was left “heartbroken” for his teammate, who faced international scrutiny after match officials raised questions of the 28-year-old following Australia’s dominant Test series thumping in Sri Lanka earlier this year.
Lyon revealed that Kuhnemann was deeply affected by the ordeal, before clearing his name through rigorous biomechanical testing in Brisbane.
“I’m happy for Matt, I’m happy it’s all cleared and all done. He hadn’t done anything wrong,” Lyon said.
“I was pretty heartbroken in a sense. I actually flew home (from Sri Lanka) with him. He was pretty gutted when he was talking to me about what he had to do, and he was pretty nervous.
“But for him to have his name cleared, I couldn’t be nothing but prouder for Matt and the way he’s gone about it.”
The left-armer claimed 16 wickets at 17.18 during the 2-0 series whitewash was cleared with the testing clearly showing that his action was nowhere near the illegal threshold, allowing him to continue unchanged.
There have since been calls for future instances to remain confidential until testing results are known to prevent publicly shaming players who are later proven innocent.
Matthew Kuhnemann celebrates after taking the wicket of Dhananjaya de Silva (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“Matt’s a great guy. The Australian public will be behind him, I’m behind him,” Lyon said.
“He’s been spectacular for Australia, and he’s got my full support.
“I’m not sure what the actual process was within the match referees and the officials.
“It would’ve been nice if it was kept under wraps and they could’ve went through the process behind closed doors.”
The man believed to be responsible for reporting Kuhnemann to the ICC, umpire Joel Wilson, was stood down from the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of Umpires last week for his overall recent performances in his officiating.
