Three of the world's top-four spin bowlers in one-day cricket are now the subject of official scrutiny, after West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine was reported for a suspect action while bowling his quicker ball for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Champions League T20 in India.

He joins Pakistan spinners Saeed Ajmal (suspended from bowling in international cricket) and Mohammad Hafeez (on report in the Champions League) on a long list of bowlers nabbed by umpires in recent months.

Being reported in the Champions League has no impact on international cricket, but the tournament, jointly owned by India, Australia and South Africa (and organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India), has clearly taken a lead from the ICC, which mooted a stronger policing of the throwing rule during its annual conference this winter.

However, Cricket Australia spin coach John Davison believes the crackdown has come too late for many young spinners from the subcontinent, who have grown up trying to emulate the actions of bowlers who were allowed to get away with too much.

He says the Australian decision not to teach the doosra to emerging spinners with conventional actions has been vindicated.

"I don't think it [the global crackdown] is going to affect Australian cricket as much as it will affect the subcontinent countries," he said.

"I was in Sri Lanka a couple of months ago and 90 per cent of the bowlers over there bowl spin. I reckon 90 per cent of kids coming through would have what I would call an illegal action."

Davison accompanied Nathan Lyon and a national performance squad to Colombo to work with Muthiah Muralidaran in June.

"There's going to be a generation of cricketers in the subcontinent who are going to struggle to bowl with a legal action. These kids have grown up copying their heroes and now it's going to come back to haunt them.

"You look at most international spinners going around at the moment and the majority are definitely what you would call suspect, and kids copy what international guys are doing.

"It's something the ICC probably let go on for too long, but I suppose it's good in terms of the stance we took, not that we wouldn't coach it, but we wouldn't try to turn traditional bowlers into doosra bowlers. It would have been much better [globally] if there had been a stance 20 years ago."

Muralidaran, who will join the Australian squad as a coaching consultant in the United Arab Emirates this week ahead of its series against Pakistan, does not believe the ICC's crackdown will spell the death of the doosra (the off-spinner's delivery that turns the other way), nor that it should change the way spin bowling is coached.

"Some people can bowl a doosra, some can't. Everyone is different so you can't take it as the final decision," Muralidaran said.

Not that it's just the doosra that has been scrutinised. All Ajmal's deliveries were well over the 15 degree limit, and the Pakistan Cricket Board has since banned 16 domestic bowlers with dubious actions.

Muralidaran, Test cricket's most successful bowler has been hired as much to help Australia's batsmen face spin on turning pitches as to assist the slow-bowling contingent of Nathan Lyon, Steve O'Keefe and Glenn Maxwell in the UAE.

He said he didn't want to change Lyon's action, and would instead focus on helping him with tactics in different conditions, and on what to do when he's not bowling so well. Davison believes Lyon and the retired England off-spinner Graeme Swann prove it's possible to thrive in international cricket with a classical action.

Since the start of June, five off-spinners and one fast bowler have been reported for suspect actions, with three (Ajmal, Kane Williamson and Sachithra Senanayake) suspended from bowling in international cricket until they can fix their actions through remedial work.