Australia has given a mixed reaction to an ICC recommendation to allow bowlers to straighten their arms, a move that would clear Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan to bowl his controversial 'doosra'.

Cricket Australia said it would be a positive step for the game, but former Australia captain Allan Border criticised the move and current skipper Ricky Ponting also expressed reservations.

CA general manager of cricket operations Michael Brown said the board is waiting on information from the International Cricket Council before deciding whether to support the recommendation.

"The 15 degrees is something that we have yet to fully consider," Brown told reporters on Thursday. "We'll know more once we understand the detail from the ICC.

"It's a significant change from the current arrangements, but we all acknowledge perhaps they weren't correct. So we think it's a step forward."

Brown said it is almost physically impossible for bowlers to avoid bending their arms.

"The degree of the bend has always been a consideration of what is fair and what isn't," Brown said.

"It's nothing to do with any particular individual. This is about getting the game right."

Muralitharan's 'doosra', a leg spinner bowled from the front of the hand, was outlawed by the ICC last May after a report concluded that the Sri Lankan bent his arm during delivery and therefore threw the ball.

An ICC committee this week recommended that bowlers should be allowed to straighten their arms by up to 15 degrees.

"It seems like they are playing around and changing these rules all the time," Ponting said on Thursday. "What that says to me as well is that Murali will be able to bowl his doosra again."

Border admitted he was from the old school regarding this issue.

"Throwing is throwing," he said. "If you straighten your arm, it's a throw."

Spinners are currently permitted to straighten their arms by five degrees, medium pacers 7.5 and fast bowlers 10. Muralitharan's doosra was initially measured at around 14 degrees.

The recommendation will be considered by the ICC next year.

Muralitharan, who has twice been called for throwing in Australia, is expected to return to Test cricket against New Zealand in January after recovering from a shoulder injury. He has been out of action since August.

The Sri Lankan is second on the list of all-time Test wicket-takers with 532 victims, nine fewer than Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne.