A googly in cricket is a deceptive delivery from a leg-spin bowler that spins the opposite way to a normal leg break, surprising the batter and often leading to a wicket. It looks like a stock leg-spinner but turns the other way after pitching. This guide explains how the googly works, how it differs from other spin deliveries, how to spot it, and the bowlers who made it famous.
What Is a Googly in Cricket?
To understand the googly, you first need to understand the leg break. A right-arm leg-spinner normally spins the ball from leg to off for a right-handed batter, that is, away towards the slips. The googly is the surprise ball: using the same wrist-spin action, the bowler turns the wrist over so the ball spins the opposite way, from off to leg, and comes back into the right-hander instead of going away.
Because the action looks almost identical to a leg break, the batter expects the ball to turn one way and is beaten when it turns the other. A well-bowled googly can clean bowl a batter through the gate, trap them LBW, or take the edge for a catch behind. The delivery is also known in some countries as the “wrong’un”.
How a Bowler Bowls a Googly
A googly is bowled with wrist spin, not finger spin. The bowler holds the ball as for a leg break but, at the point of release, rotates the wrist further so the back of the hand faces the batter. This flips the direction of spin. The seam and the way the ball comes out of the hand are the only real clues, and good bowlers hide them well.
Bowling a googly well takes years of practice because the change in wrist position can cost control and pace. It is one branch of a large spin-bowling family, and you can see how it sits alongside off-spin, finger spin and other styles in our overview of the types of bowling in cricket.
Control is the hard part. Because the back of the hand faces the batter at release, the bowler loses some natural feel for line and length, so a poorly bowled googly can drift down the leg side or sit up as a long hop that is easy to hit for four. Many young leg-spinners can turn the googly sharply in the nets but struggle to land it on a good length in a match. The best bowlers also vary how much they over-rotate the wrist, so some googlies turn a long way and others barely deviate, which keeps the batter from settling into a fixed plan against the ball.
Googly vs Leg Break vs Other Spin Deliveries
A leg-spinner usually has several deliveries, and the googly is just one of them:
- Leg break: the stock ball that turns away from a right-hander (leg to off).
- Googly: turns the opposite way, into the right-hander (off to leg), from a similar action.
- Top spinner: goes straight on with extra bounce and dip rather than turning sideways.
- Flipper: skids on low and fast after pitching, often trapping batters LBW or bowled.
The googly is the most famous of these because the change of direction is the most dramatic. The bounce and turn a spinner gets depends heavily on the surface, so reading the cricket pitch types and how they behave tells you when a dusty pitch will make the googly spin sharply.
Famous Googly Bowlers
The googly was invented in the early 1900s by England’s Bernard Bosanquet, which is why it was once called the “Bosie”. Since then many great leg-spinners have used it.
Australia’s Shane Warne, the greatest wrist-spinner of the modern era, used the googly sparingly but effectively to keep batters guessing. Pakistan’s Abdul Qadir and later Mushtaq Ahmed were renowned for their googlies. In India, Anil Kumble bowled a well-disguised googly, and modern leg-spinners such as Yuzvendra Chahal and Rahul Chahar use it regularly in T20 cricket. South Africa’s Imran Tahir is another current bowler whose googly has taken many wickets in limited-overs games.
How Batters Try to Spot the Googly
Reading a googly is one of the hardest skills in batting. Good players watch three things: the bowler’s wrist position at release, the way the seam rotates in the air, and the ball off the pitch. Some batters are excellent at picking it “out of the hand”, while others wait and play it “off the pitch”, reacting after it lands, which is riskier against sharp turn.
When a batter cannot read the googly, they often play for the wrong turn and get bowled or trapped LBW. This is exactly why captains bring leg-spinners on against new batters who have not yet settled. Television replays and ball-tracking now make it easier for viewers to see the spin direction, but in the middle the batter has only a split second to decide. Facing wrist spin confidently is a real test, and our cricket batting tips for beginners cover how to watch the ball closely and play late.
Why the Googly Matters in Modern Cricket
Wrist-spin and the googly have become more valuable in T20 cricket because leg-spinners take wickets in the middle overs and are hard to hit when batters cannot read them. The mystery factor means a single good googly can change a match. The laws of bowling, including what counts as a fair delivery, are maintained by the game’s authorities, and international playing conditions are set by the International Cricket Council. For fans, learning to spot the googly turns watching a leg-spinner into a fascinating duel of guesswork between bat and ball.
A Famous Googly That Changed a Match
Great googlies tend to be remembered by the wickets they take. Shane Warne, though best known for his leg break, used the googly sparingly so that when it came it was a genuine shock, and many right-handers were bowled or trapped LBW playing for a turn that never arrived. Anil Kumble, who bowled quicker than most wrist-spinners, used a well-hidden googly to skid the ball back into the batter, and it brought him a large share of his more than 900 international wickets. In limited-overs cricket, Yuzvendra Chahal and Rahul Chahar regularly slip in the googly to beat batters slogging across the line, picking up key middle-over wickets.
The Doosra: Spin’s Other Surprise Ball
The googly is a wrist-spinner’s surprise delivery, but finger-spinners have their own version called the doosra, which means “the other one”. An off-spinner normally turns the ball into a right-hander; the doosra, released with a different wrist position, spins away instead, the opposite of the stock ball. Saqlain Mushtaq popularised it, and Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh used it to great effect. The doosra is controversial because it is hard to bowl without straightening the arm, which can break the laws on a fair delivery, whereas the googly raises no such concerns and is universally accepted.
Spin Deliveries at a Glance
It helps to see how the main wrist-spin and finger-spin deliveries compare for a right-handed batter:
| Delivery | Bowler type | Turn for a right-hander |
|---|---|---|
| Leg break | Leg-spin (wrist) | Away, leg to off |
| Googly | Leg-spin (wrist) | In, off to leg |
| Off break | Off-spin (finger) | In, off to leg |
| Doosra | Off-spin (finger) | Away, leg to off |
Notice that the googly and the doosra create a similar surprise, turning the “wrong” way, but one comes from the wrist and the other from the fingers.
How to Practise Picking the Googly
Spotting a googly is a skill you can train rather than a gift you either have or lack. Coaches suggest a few simple habits:
- Watch the bowler’s hand and wrist at the moment of release rather than the ball later in flight.
- Look for the seam, because a leg break and a googly often present it at slightly different angles.
- Notice the flight, since a googly is sometimes looped a fraction higher or slower because of the extra wrist work.
- If you cannot pick it from the hand, play with soft hands and close to your body so you can adjust after the ball pitches.
Even professional batters get it wrong, which is exactly why playing wrist-spin well is regarded as one of the toughest arts in the game.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a googly and a leg break?
A leg break turns away from a right-handed batter, from leg to off. A googly is bowled with a similar action but turns the opposite way, coming back into the right-hander from off to leg. The disguise is what makes the googly so effective at taking wickets.
Why is a googly called a wrong’un?
It is called a wrong’un because it turns the “wrong” way compared with the bowler’s normal leg break. The batter expects the ball to spin away but it comes back in instead, which is why this surprise delivery has picked up several nicknames over the years.
Is a googly hard to bowl?
Yes. A googly needs a sharp turn of the wrist at release, which can reduce control and pace. It takes years to bowl accurately while disguising it from the leg break, which is why only skilled wrist-spinners can use it reliably in matches.
Who invented the googly in cricket?
England’s Bernard Bosanquet invented the googly in the early 1900s, which is why it was originally nicknamed the “Bosie”. Since then leg-spinners worldwide, including Shane Warne, Abdul Qadir and Anil Kumble, have made it a key wicket-taking weapon.
What is the difference between a googly and a doosra?
A googly is bowled by a wrist-spinner, or leg-spinner, and turns back into a right-hander instead of away. A doosra is the finger-spinner’s equivalent: an off-spinner makes it spin away from the right-hander instead of in. Both surprise the batter by turning the opposite way to the bowler’s stock ball.
Can a googly be bowled to a left-handed batter?
Yes. Against a left-hander the directions are mirrored: a leg-spinner’s stock ball turns into the left-hander, so the googly spins away towards the slips instead. Bowlers often target left-handers with the googly because the ball leaving the bat can take an outside edge to the keeper or slip.
Conclusion
A googly in cricket is the leg-spinner’s great trick: a ball that looks like a leg break but spins the opposite way, leaving batters guessing and often heading back to the pavilion. From its invention by Bernard Bosanquet to the modern mastery of bowlers like Shane Warne and Yuzvendra Chahal, the googly remains one of the most exciting deliveries in the game. Once you can spot the change of wrist and the turn off the pitch, watching wrist-spin becomes a whole new pleasure.
