The Warnaweera saga: A game of no comebackers
I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this little anecdote; nevertheless, it has intrigued me through the years.
The story is wound around the legendary F.C. de Saram who at one time housed the cricket talents of the Singhalese Sports Club as its coach, and a wiry slow medium operator from the south.
You decide if the cap fits you
At one instance it is said this raw lad had thoughts of moving his skills to Maitland Place from his native Southern hub.
While the lad was bowling at the nets ‘Papa de Saram’ as he was fondly called, roared: “Hey little guy, if you are interested in pelting stones, pick a mango tree; if you intend bowling, do it the proper way.”
That was the end of this episode between the coach and this little guy at the SSC.
Yet, the guy in his own pelting mannerism continued his trade elsewhere in a Southern hamlet and turned out to be an operator with a reckoning.
However, the interesting feature of this episode is that when this pelting buddy was among the wickets in the local tournament, a powerful SSC figure, who happened to be the captain of the country, was instrumental in this little guy, rising to the status of a national player.
Yet, doubts about his deliveries persisted and at one juncture he was christened as “Chuck Norris” by the lads of the fourth estate. The folklore lives to remember.
Throwing, chucking, bending the arm or just cheating at bowling is an age old trait in this little island. Yet, I believe it should not have been the case.
For these operators, winning at all costs has been the slogan, and they are dime a dozen. Especially in cricket for a long while bent arm was not seen as a fault and was not considered as blasphemy; even reluctantly it was accepted.
The cricketing career of Jayananda Warnaweera, who is facing an ICC probe, is a good case study.
Warnaweera was one of Sri Lanka’s well-known curators who accomplished his job with an impressive track record at one juncture.
He also played International cricket for Sri Lanka and began his career as a slow right arm operator along with Muttiah Muralitharan who also, at one juncture, had problems about his bowling actions.
I remember in one international match, a photographer had reproduced a gory shot of Warnaweera and Muttiah Muralitharan in operation in tandem.
However, the ICC’s systems then had not strong enough to gauge the tenacity of the fault and the bowler survived.
Muralitharan’s fight against the establishment was another case study.
Most of the upper limits of the tolerance level were formed by the ICC based on his actions.
Muralitharan with the aid of that concession went on to become the highest wicket-taker in the history of cricket and interestingly played his last Test match at the Galle Cricket Stadium, where the curator was Warnaweera.
Warnaweera’s Test match bowling career was rather short, but he had a long bowl in the Club system.
Starting off with the legendary grounds-man Alagasamy, Warnaweera promoted himself as a self-styled curator with a reputation. He was amiable.
He always thought and acted as the king-maker of the Lankan cricket administration and, more-often than not, the side that he backed occupied the hot seat.
The secret was said to be the cache of votes that he had built upon in his own inimitable fashion.
However, his own insatiable lust for glory even would have led to his downfall. He was a king-maker, but never wanted to wear the boots of power.
He was at his best while indulging in cricket politics, rather than driving on the highway of acceptable norm.
He initially came into prominence with his brief but highly successful campaign to crown Ana Punchihewa. It was a dream debut in king-making.
The world cup win and the vision and the drive for better things for cricket really caught on; so his next move was to show allegiance and ally himself with the Upali Dharmadasa-Thilanga Sumathipala camp.
That was another successful move and from there onwards, “Warne” (not Shane Warne but Warne`) was a much-sought-after individual in the Lankan cricket administration.
Warnaweera’s imminent goal was not the hub of power. As far as we could see, Warnaweera, who was working as an officer at the Plywood Corporation, wanted to ascend to a level he wanted through the vocation that he knew the most.
Before long, he cultivated his goal and it became his vocation too. That is cultivating the spoils of Galle Cricket Club.
Yes, there were other people sitting at the helm of that entity and they in turn became the presidents of Sri Lanka Cricket by virtue of the individual’s official status. But, the king of the Galle Cricket Club was always Jayananda Warnaweera.
He may have been the king of the southern hub of cricket where the majority of the Test matches are played, but his ambition also took a heavy toll of his virtues.
The more he had of Galle CC’s exchanges, the more he got involved. He had a finger in every puffin on the tray. That drawback in him brought questions about his administration’s stability.
The more Warnaweera stayed unheeded in his positions, the more the authorities began to ask questions about his objectives, especially with regard to the preparations of wickets.
In 2006, Warnaweera failed to co-operate with an ICC match-fixing investigation and this resulted in ICC rejecting his name from a list of Sri Lankans to be honoured with a special recognition medal for the ICC centenary in 2009.
But, the world body did not stay put with that status quo. The ICC initiated new legislation to probe curators also in its Anti-Corruption drive.
Ironically, even at this juncture he chose not to cooperate with the authorities when they wanted to inquire about the activities of two or more bookies. Warnaweera failed to show up on two occasions.
Then the ICC stopped him from taking part in activities pertaining to the curator’s post at the Galle Test match which is now in progress.
Sri Lanka Cricket then followed the best example. In spite of being an office bearer of the cricket interim committee, they took the appropriate step by requesting Warnaweera to resign from his office.
When he did not comply with the ICC, they promptly took action to bar him from all local cricket activities.
This is the place where it would hurt Warnaweera the most. The cricket elections are only a hairbreadth away, and it is almost impossible to think of a Warnaweera-less cricket election.
And what would happen to all those votes that he holds in a packet?
The final outcome of this episode is that Sri Lanka has received a huge black mark internationally. Now the question is: Who is responsible for this state of affairs?
As an individual it was his prerogative to play truant. But, what about the people who bought his crooked pies just to be a part of that haul of votes?
The ICC was on its tracks since 2006, but what was the cricket administration doing? They played along with the guy. He was in almost all the executive committees.
Adding further damage he was appointed a member of the 2015 Interim Committee by the then Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake who was trying to probe into the misdeeds of an administration which Warnaweera himself was a part of.
This is the way the cookie crumbles. In this game, there are no comebackers. Once the name is tarnished, it stays forever.