Out! Wisden purges ‘offensive’ chinaman
THE 2018 Wisden, published today, has expunged the term chinaman as a description of a bowling action because many now consider it derogatory.
For decades, cricket’s bible has used the abbreviation SLC — slow left-arm chinaman — in bowling averages. This has been altered to SLW, standing for slow left-arm wrist-spin.
The change came after Sydney Morning Herald cricket writer Andrew Wu called it ‘racially offensive terminology’ when India’s Kuldeep Yadav made his Test debut against Australia a year ago and was widely described as a chinaman bowler.
Legend has it the term was coined during England’s 1933 Old Trafford Test against a West Indies side containing Ellis Achong, a left-arm wrist-spinner of Chinese heritage. After England’s Walter Robins was stumped off Achong, he allegedly told umpire Joe Hardstaff: ‘Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman.’ West Indies all-rounder Learie Constantine, fielding nearby, asked: ‘Is that the man or the ball?’
A Wisden spokesman said: ‘The designation is no longer appropriate, so we’re changing it.’ HARLEQUINS’ beleaguered chief executive Dave Ellis might have done himself a favour missing his club’s humiliating home defeat by London Irish in favour of a trip to the Hong Kong Sevens. Quins’ fearsome England prop Joe Marler is understood to have been so angry about the team’s performance he came looking for Ellis in The Stoop stands after being substituted. ITV will want star pundit Sir Anthony McCoy to present a more enthusiastic and friendly personality at the Grand National meeting starting today than he did at the Cheltenham festival. The racing discussion Betfair forum was full of scathing comments, suggesting the high affection McCoy gained with the racing public as the greatest jump jockey of all time would be affected if he continued with the same attitude.
Assessments of McCoy at Cheltenham included ‘sneering and putting people down’, ‘ awkward and unlikeable’ and ‘a waste of media space’. One commenter asked: ‘Why should a great jockey be even a barely acceptable pundit?’ THE ECB are taking legal action against Cricinfo’s George Dobell over his strong views on how poorly the organisation is being led, and now the two have clashing articles in the 2018 Wisden over the new T20 tournament starting in 2020. ECB chief executive Tom Harrison writes: ‘The young in particular will feel connected to the game, the players, the teams and the cricket in a way they have not felt before.’ Dobell counters more effectively: ‘What evidence is there to suggest spectators will warm to teams with no identity? What will happen to the counties who don’t host games. Isn’t it likely they will, in time, be impoverished and marginalised?’
UEFA City seats fiasco
MANCHESTER CITY, whose manager Pep Guardiola was charged by UEFA with improper conduct after being sent off during the Champions League loss to Liverpool, have a genuine grouse against European football’s ruling body.
UEFA-allocated sponsors’ tickets for the game at the Etihad Stadium ended up in the hands of scores of Liverpool fans wearing club shirts and scarves who were in seats surrounded by City supporters — a recipe for disaster.
Meanwhile, members of the media who were put in an overflow area at the top of the Colin Bell stand with no tables or power points included some of the regular Liverpool beat reporters for national newspapers. A City spokesman said newspapers were consulted over the seating. INSURANCE giant Arthur J Gallagher & Co will be announced today as the new title sponsor of the rugby Premiership. They replace Aviva, who had extended their cutprice support for one season only. It will be known as the Gallagher Premiership rather than by the American company’s full name.