Wisden drops the term 'Chinaman' owing to objections against racial stereotype

The reputed treasure trove cricketing knowledge, the Wisden Almanack has chosen to replace the term ‘Chinaman’ in its list of types of bowlers. The new term to be used is Slow Left-Arm Wrist-Spin. The change was brought about after there were numerous objections raised against a possible racial stereotype pertaining to the previous name of the bowling style.

The term ‘Chinaman’ is said to have originated in the 1930s, owing to Ellis ‘Puss’ Achong. As a slow left-arm wrist-spin bowler, Achong played for Trinidad and it is supposedly from his place of origin that the bowling style derived its name. In recent times, Indian bowler Kuldeep Yadav has popularised the term in mainstream Cricket by belonging to the same genre of bowling.

 Wisden changes ‘Chinaman’ owing to objections against radical stereotype

As reported by dailymail.co.uk, a Wisden spokesperson said, ‘The designation is no longer appropriate, so we’re changing it.” The concerns were raised after Andrew Wu, a cricket writer for Sydney Morning Herald objected to the term, and called it ‘racially offensive terminology’. Earlier the bowling style was termed as ‘Slow Left-Arm Chinaman (SLC)’. Henceforth, it’ll be known as ‘Slow Left-Arm Wrist-Spin (SLW)’. As of now, there are only a handful of SLW players around the globe, 30 to be precise.

Kuldeep Yadav has shot to fame while playing for India with the same bowling form as he created history by being the first SLW bowler for India. In Women’s Cricket, Preeti ‘Dolly’ Dimri is noted as the first SLW bowler for India.

Yadav, who made his debut for India in 2017 across all three formats of the game, has successfully befuddled the batsmen, which has gained him worldwide recognition. He has 39 ODI wickets in just 20 games, along with 12 T20I wickets in 8 matches. Currently, he’s playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) side in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), that saw him record bowling figures of 3-0-27-1 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Tuesday (April 10).

[interaction id=”5aca2dc20b450df577763135″]

Here is the video of the day

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com