England fast bowler James Kirtley has vowed to overcome doubts over his action following a report from ICC match referee Colonel Naushad Ali questioning the legality of his bowling.

Ali has written to the International Cricket Council outlining concerns he first raised with the England management after the first one-day international against Zimbabwe on October 3.

Kirtley was cleared by the English Cricket Board last November after his action came under the spotlight during the England A tour to New Zealand in 1999-2000. He now faces another period of assessment under former England bowling coach Bob Cottam before a report on his action is submitted to the ICC. He will, however, still be able to play cricket at all levels while this work is being carried out.

"It's one person's opinion and a situation I've been through before," an upbeat Kirtley insisted. "I've shown the mental strength to get through this in the past and I'll do it again. Ever since I was a young boy I've had subtle joints and my arm hyper-extends which may explain the doubts over my action, but I'll come out the other side I'm sure."

Kirtley's insistence that suspicions are caused by his over-elastic joints is supported by his former cricket coach at Clifton College. Speaking in the Daily Telegraph, Douglas Henderson said, "He has a hyper-extension of the right elbow. His forearm goes slightly further back than most people's. Added to that, he uses a lot of wrist in his action, and the combination of his arm coming from backwards to straight with his wrist cocked, does make his arm look slightly peculiar. He has had this raised ever since he has bowled. We never had any complaints, although his action was occasionally queried. It's an optical illusion." Kirtley will also be boosted by the wholehearted support given to him by England captain Nasser Hussain. "My main concern is for James because he's been an absolute blessing for me on this tour," said Hussain. "He has my full support, the support of the England team and hopefully all of English cricket and I'm sure he's mentally strong enough to get through this."

England coach Duncan Fletcher also gave his backing. "I'm very surprised about it from James' point of view because we picked him for the tour to Zimbabwe as a cricketer and had no suspicions about his action whatsoever until the match referee mentioned it the other day." Fletcher also denied that the report would rule Kirtley out of contention for Saturday's final one-dayer. "His name will go in the hat like everybody else's and once Nasser and I have had a chat we'll pick the side but whether he plays or not will have nothing to do with this."

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