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What is a Chinaman bowler? Meaning, name origin and cricket's famous left-arm wrist spinners listed originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- A Chinaman is a delivery bowled by a left-arm wrist spinner, turning away from a left-hander.
- The term traces back to West Indies bowler Ellis Achong in a 1933 Test against England.
- India's Kuldeep Yadav is the format's most prominent modern left-arm wrist spinner.
Chinaman bowler: A rare bowling type in cricket
All these years of international cricket have seen some of the most captivating bowling actions ever. From Muttiah Muralitharan's freakishly flexible wrist to Lasith Malinga's round-arm slinging to Paul Adams' contorted "frog in a blender" delivery, the game has always found room for bowlers who simply do not look like anyone else.
Of all these bowling actions, left-arm wrist spin has remained one of the rarest and most unique arts in cricket, and for decades it went by a single, now-contentious name: the Chinaman. While the name is now infamous and famous in equal measures, it has also produced some of the most watchable bowlers in the sport. From Sir Garry Sobers to Kuldeep Yadav, few have ever managed to master it.
The simple feat of spinning the ball in the opposite direction has been a mystery to be solved by any conventional left-arm spinner. But for those who master it, it remains the genuine point of difference in any attack, capable of dismantling entire batting orders. So to understand what exactly Chinaman bowling is helps to understand who came up with it and why it remains as captivating as it was in the 1930s.
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Who is a Chinaman bowler?
A Chinaman bowler is a left-arm spinner who uses the wrist, rather than the fingers, to impart spin on the ball. The result is a delivery that turns from the leg side to the off side for a right-handed batter, effectively the left-arm equivalent of a right-arm leg break. This makes it fundamentally different from the far more common left-arm orthodox spin, which relies on the fingers.
Because the wrist generates greater revolutions, the ball can turn sharply and unpredictably, and the same action allows the bowler to disguise a googly that spins the other way. The style is uncommon at every level of the game, with only a handful of specialists ever reaching international cricket, which is exactly why it retains its mystique.
Why is a Chinaman bowler called Chinaman?
The term is rooted in racial undertones, as one assumes, originating from the second Test between the West Indies and England at Old Trafford during the 1933 West Indies tour of England. The term came up when Ellis "Puss" Achong, a bowler of Chinese descent and the first cricketer of Chinese ancestry to play Test cricket, slipped in a wrist-spin delivery that turned the wrong way and stumped England batter, Walter Robins.
While primarily a left-arm orthodox spinner, that delivery completely surprised Robins, who was batting at 55. As he trudged back to the pavilion, he is reputed to have grumbled to the umpire, "Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman." To this, teammate and West Indies great Learie Constantine is said to have replied, "Do you mean the bowler or the ball?"
The exchange stuck, and the name entered cricket's lexicon. The term is now widely regarded as outdated and inappropriate, and most broadcasters and publications have replaced it with the neutral "left-arm wrist spin".
Interestingly, Achong himself, it should be noted, was almost certainly not the inventor of the delivery, with South Africa's Charlie "Buck" Llewellyn among those to have bowled it decades earlier.
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What is the difference between a Chinaman bowler and a left-arm orthodox spinner?
The key distinction lies in the hand action and the direction of turn. A left-arm orthodox spinner uses the fingers to spin the ball, moving it away from a right-handed batter, in the same way a right-arm off-spinner operates against a left-hander.
A Chinaman bowler, by contrast, uses the wrist and turns the ball into the right-hander from leg to off. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are examples of orthodox left-armers, whereas the wrist-spinning method produces sharper, less predictable turn and a natural wrong'un.
That extra unpredictability is both the strength and the difficulty of the art, as the wristy action is far harder to control, which explains why so few bowlers commit to it as their stock delivery.
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Famous examples of Chinaman bowlers: Is Kuldeep Yadav a left-arm wrist spinner?
Yes, India's Kuldeep Yadav is the most prominent left-arm wrist spinner in the modern game and remains the country's only genuine exponent of the style at the top level. His success has done much to revive interest in a craft that once seemed to be dying out. The list of famous Chinaman bowlers stretches back through cricket history.
West Indies great Garry Sobers also occasionally used the style, while Australia's Michael Bevan and Brad Hogg carried it into the modern era during Australia's trifecta of World Cup wins. South Africa's Paul Adams brought an unforgettable, contorted action to it during the 90s, while more recently, Tabraiz Shamsi of South Africa and Sri Lanka's Lakshan Sandakan have kept the art alive on the international stage.
For all its rarity, the left-arm wrist spinner endures as one of cricket's great spectacles, a bowler whose very presence in an attack promises something different from the norm.
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