SYDNEY, DEC 5: Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, whose troubles with his bowling action started in Australia, has found support from some great practioners of his craft from that very country.Yesteryear pace heroes Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Geoff Lawson and Len Pascoe have come to the defence of Akhtar, demanding those making chucking allegations against Shoaib to get off his back.``Leave the kid alone. He's not a cheat. People should lay him off,'' local newspaper The Sun Herald quoted Thomson as saying today.Repeated chucking allegations about visiting bowlers, Thomson added, were giving Australia a bad name. ``Its getting embarrassing because it seems to happen here all the time. If someone blatantly chucks, then nail him, but these allegations are messy.''Lillee said, ``I haven't got a problem with it (Akhtar'saction). It's fine simple as that.''The leaking of the story about Akhtar's action being reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) was unfair to the bowler, itreported Geoff Lawson as saying.``I feel sorry for Akhtar. It's like he has been put on trial by media and that happened because the whole thing was handled poorly at the official level. I think his action is fine. I don'T think there's anything wrong with it.''Len Pascoe dismissed the talk about Akhtar as garbage. ``There is nothing wrong with his action. He's a slinger, like Jeff Thomson was. ``The duel he (Akhtar) had with Michael Slater in the first Test was great stuff. It really started the summer off brilliantly and now he has to put up with this rubbish.``Watching him is a lot better than watching pussy spinners bowl for three quarters of the day and listening to commentators say how lovely it is,'' Pascoe scathingly remarked in an interview to the same newspaper.Lillee was angry at what he saw as an automatic suspicion some people had about the fastest of fast bowlers. ``Anyone who bowls quick, people start to suspect that now and then they throw one. This is not fair.''
