Oriental confusion
So you go into bat and seek help from either your new partner ( obviously now the senior partner) or the defeated batsmsan ( why, since he's obviously not succeeded). What you want to know is whether you need to worry about the ball outside your off stump cutting back to take your poles out or the one missing leg that's going to do for you. Last week I had this conversation and was told 'he's bowling chinamen' and it was then that I realised that this was an expression I didn't understand. We all know that the books say it's a left arm bowlers equivalent of a googly but what does that actually mean - which way does it pretend to be going to turn ( only relevant if you can pick up the arm 20 odd yards away) and which way will it actually turn? And how come some players e.g. Denis Compton were said to bowl googlies and chinamen.
3 comments:
I guess you didn't last long Mave?!
I always took Chinamen to be a left arm wrist-spinner's delivery, so turning away from the left hander and in to the right?
I guess if you can bowl googlies and chinamen you are either (a) very good indeed and unlikely to be bowling at our level, or (b) very hittable!
I think what a chinaman delivery is depends on who you ask. Some consider it to be the left handed googly (i.e. turning away from right hander), others the stock left arm wrist spinner's ball (turning in to right hander).
Basically, if someone tells you a bowler is bowling chinamen, you'd better clarify the situation first. Although I'd imagine it doesn't matter what they bowl when you can reverse sweep like Mavis can.
I have always understood that a chinaman was the left arm wrist spinners wrong 'un. His standard ball is called a googly because it turns the same way as the right arm wrist spinners wrong 'un. Hence a left arm wrist spinner bowls googlies and chinamen.
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