A Page from Cricketing History: Jayananda Warnaweera The Oddball

He has brought more Test wins for Sri Lanka than any other player. He once tormented opposition batsmen, and still continues to do so. Jayananda Warnaweera, known to many as the curator of the Galle Cricket Ground, who confounds overseas batsmen, with his signature pitches, that turns square from the first day, was once a very colorful character on the playing field. A “chucker” according to most touring teams (especially the English), Warnaweera is, to describe in one word: exotic!

Warnaweera and his controversial action

You should probably pardon me, as a twelve year old, just starting to watch Cricket, in an age where there were not so many camera angles or super slow motion replays (which capture a thousand frames per second?) or even the level of detailed zooming achieved today, for not having a clear opinion on Warnaweera’s bowling action. After his retirement, I never saw any of that old footage, so there was never a way to verify or nullify the claims made by visiting teams.

The Englishmen dubbed him “the spear” for his controversial action and to add emphasis to how his bowling action resembled a javelin thrower in the process of hurling a javelin. With no neutral umpires or match referees, and very few overseas tours, Warnaweera was never embroiled in the chucking controversy, in the same intensity or bureaucratic level as Muralitharan.

The era that Warnaweera bowled in was in the pre-Muralitharan and initial-Muralitharan years. There were no superstars in the bowling lineup. When the fast bowlers were only expected to scuff up the bowl for the spinners, the burden was on Warnaweera and Co to deliver the goods.

What I saw, was the strangest bowling action I had ever seen. After Paul Adams, of South Africa, I guess no bowling action can be called strange. However, this was a long time before Adams. It was not so much the action, in the sense, that was strange. For me it was the run up! Imagine a bodybuilder or arm wrestler, flexing his right arm, now imagine this same person running in, while doing this; and you have Warnaweera! For a spinner, Warnaweera had the longest run up I have seen to date. Bowling an assortment of cutters and spinners, Warnaweera stretched the limits of the imagination as well as the coaching manual.  

When people talk about unorthodox actions, it’s always Muralitharan and now it’s Malinga. But, this feature, of bizarre bowling actions, has been around Sri Lankan Cricket probably since its inception. The difference is in the amount of media coverage received after and before the 1996 World Cup. The whole Warnaweera experience was for us, one of amusement and glee. And it was not the only one. There was Champika Ramanayake running in with the ball held around his lower midriff or Dulip Liyanage constantly jerking his arm and shoulder as he ran into ball. We observed each of these idiosyncrasies and copied them, especially Warnaweera, when it was our turn to play. What little we saw of our heroes, we idolized and it was their quirks, more than anything else that attracted and in turn inspired us to always love the game.