I threw while bowling - Sonny Ramadhin

By A. C. de SILVA

CRICKET: The throwing controversy in big-time cricket has somewhat subsided now, and bowlers, both spinners and seamers do not seem to be bothered by their bowling actions in international matches these days. The international panel of umpires have been 'silent' on the bowling actions of the players in Test matches and one-day internationals as well. So, the international scene is somewhat quiet without any or hardly any controversial incidents.

The game of cricket has been played for a long, long time. The competition between teams has been competitive, but one thing that has been somewhat depressing has been the declining standard of Australian cricket - and this was seen quite clearly when they lost quite meekly to India in the last Test match in the present series by a massive margin of 320 runs, It was India's biggest win by runs ever, improving on their 280-run mark against South Africa in 1996.

From the good old days with the game getting more and more competitive, the anxiety to do well has become increasingly sought after element.

Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan is the leading bowler in Test cricket with a record haul of wickets. However he did not have an easy passage to the top, but now that he has been cleared about his bowling action, Muralitharan has a comfortable path ahead of him to add to his record tally of wickets.

Murali - Physical deformity

A physical deformity from birth does not allow Murali to straighten his bowling arm and this caused him enough of problems in the past, but this has now been resolved by the ICC.

Bowlers of international repute has sometime or other come under the strict vigilance regarding their bowling action, but in years gone by, say 50 or more years in the past, the umpires didn't seem to scrutinise their action much.

All cricket fans, especially the older generation will know the West Indian cricket team had in their ranks a break match-winning bowler by the name of Sonny Ramadhin - a right-arm leg-spinner. Born in Trinidad of Indian descent, he became the first West Indian bowler to exceed capturing 150 Test wickets. He tormented the world's leading batsmen in the 1950s with his confounding deliveries, becoming a hero in the cricket-mad West Indies.

He was the first East Indian to play for the West Indian to win. He was born in Trinidad on May 1st 1931.

But he has admitted that he cheated for 30 years. His statement is recorded in a newspaper report datelined London, March 2 in the 'Hindu' newspaper of 1999. While bowling Ramadhin's shoulder and arm are involved in an unusually quick movement in the act of delivery, which makes any infringement, if there is one, difficult to detect.

Difficult to spot

"It's about time I got it off my conscience," Ramadhin has said. Ramadhin concealed the throwing action as best he could by keeping his shirt sleeve buttoned at the wrist.

That meant that any bending of the elbow, which is against the rules and turns the delivery into a throw, would be difficult to spot.

"Nowadays, television cameras would have picked it up immediately. But I got away with it in every grade of cricket for 30 years," he has said.

Ramadhin, who at 5 feet 4 inches height, was a short man, even by cricketing standards. "There was no way somebody of my build could have produced my faster ball without throwing it".

Ramadhin gained his greatest success against England. On the hard Australian and West Indian wickets, his 22 wickets in first 11 Tests cost him 55 runs each, but he improved later on. Ramadhin, the right-arm medium slow spinner, who mixed off breaks with occasional leg-breaks has been a professional for Compton in Central Lancashire League in 1957.

He was a highly rated bowler in his playing days. One-time England captain Sir Leonard Hutton ranked Ramadhin in his first three bowlers he had met after Australia's Ray Lindwall and Bill O'Reilly.

Asked which batsmen he found hardest to bowl to in his teen years of Test cricket, Ramadhin said: "Len Hutton was a very solid player, but Australian left-hander Neil Harvey was more punishing", he said.

Ramadhin, however, does not disclose his baffling change of spin.

He has a record of sorts-being the bowler who bowled the maximum number of balls in an innings. Ramadhin bowled 588 balls_that's '98 overs against England at Birmingham in 1957.