The Googly (Wrong'un) in Cricket: How Leg-Spinners Deceive Batters
What a googly is, how leg-spinners bowl it without giving it away, why it's so hard to read, and the greatest exponents — from B.J.T. Bosanquet to Shane Warne and Anil Kumble.
The googly — also called the wrong'un — is a leg-spinner's secret weapon: a delivery that looks like a standard leg-break out of the hand but spins the other way (from off to leg for a right-handed batter, like an off-break). Bowled with an over-the-wrist action that disguises the direction of spin, a well-bowled googly can dismiss a batter who has read the leg-spinner's other deliveries perfectly. It is one of cricket's most deceptive weapons.
How the Googly Is Bowled
In a standard leg-break, the ball rolls off the outside of the right hand, spinning from leg to off. In a googly, the wrist rotates further — the back of the hand faces the batter at release — so the seam rotates in the opposite direction. The grip at the point of release is effectively an off-break grip achieved through the over-the-wrist action. The challenge is disguising this wrist position from the batter, who will be looking for the tell-tale signs of which way the ball will spin.
- Standard leg-break: Wrist cocks toward fine-leg at release, ball spins away from right-hander.
- Googly: Wrist rotates further, back of hand faces batter, ball spins into right-hander (off-break direction).
- Top-spinner: Wrist position between leg-break and googly; ball goes straight on with extra bounce.
- Flipper: Squeezed out from under the fingers, goes straight and skids low — the most dangerous variation.
- Key disguise: Leg-spinners vary their wrist position subtly and use shoulder and body alignment to conceal the googly.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the googly also called a wrong'un?
The googly is called a wrong'un because it goes the 'wrong' way — opposite to what a leg-break does. Where a standard leg-break spins from leg to off (away from a right-handed batter), the googly spins from off to leg (into the right-handed batter), behaving like an off-break despite being bowled with a leg-spin wrist action. The term 'wrong'un' is informal but widely used in English cricket commentary.
Who are the best googly bowlers in cricket history?
The most celebrated googly bowlers include Shane Warne (though he used it sparingly, preferring the flipper), Abdul Qadir (whose googly was notoriously difficult to read), Anil Kumble (whose arm ball served a similar deceptive purpose), and more recently Yasir Shah and Adil Rashid. Arguably the finest googly bowler of the modern era is Rashid Khan, whose googly is nearly undetectable even to experienced batters who study his action extensively on video.
How do batters try to read a googly?
Batters typically look for tells in the bowler's wrist position and hand orientation at release — a leg-break shows the outside of the hand, while a googly shows the back of the hand. Experienced batters also watch the seam orientation in flight (a leg-break's seam rotates one way, a googly the other). Some read the googly from the pitch: if it spins into them unexpectedly, they adjust. The best counters are: playing late, using the crease to create more time, and trusting the pad as a second line of defence for balls that might be misread.