Off-spin and Leg-spin are named wrong

[GraemeSmith]

It really annoys me what the different kind of spin bowling are called. It does not make any sense that offspin is called offspin and leg spin is called legspin. From a logical point of view what we call offspin should be called legspin since the ball is moving from off to leg and legspin should be called offspin since the ball is moving from leg to off. The current nomenclature of spin bowling is completely upside down and does not make any sense. It would be like if we started calling inswing as outswing and outswing as inswing, the ball comes into the the batsman hence it's called inswing that's logical, therefore incase of spin bowling if the ball move towards the legside it should be called legspin not offspin (and vice-verse)

[Noble One]

So you want the name changed?

Never bugged me, always made sense to me that the off-spinner spun the ball from off to leg and the leg-spinner from leg to off.

[Jakester1288]

I see where the OP is coming from, I've thought it myself.

It hardly matters though.

[Top_Cat]

Originally Posted by Jakester1288

It hardly matters though.

That's just what they want you to think.

[BoyBrumby]

Never given it a thought myself, just what I've grown up with. After all off-cutters and leg-cutters are similarly dubbed.

Although, I suppose things could've gone down the "swing" route (i.e. in-swing and away-swing) too. In-spin and away-spin just sound weird tho.

[Himannv]

Agree with the OP. The logic of it was always a bit strange to me but I just got used to the way it was called and stick to it.

[Son Of Coco]

It spins from the leg and from the off, hence the names. Have never really thought it's an issue. I can see the point re: the direction the ball moves in comparison to swing bowling though.

[Migara]

Right arm / Left arm - finger / wrist spin would be better descriptive

[Sir Alex]

Just rename the sticks. Off stump becomes leg stump, and leg stump becomes off. Problem solved.

[Himannv]

Originally Posted by Sir Alex

Just rename the sticks. Off stump becomes leg stump, and leg stump becomes off. Problem solved.

How can the leg stump be on the side away from the leg?

[Jono]

Interesting opening post.

I actually get more annoyed with how we label left-arm spin bowlers.

What the hell is "slow left arm" for left arm off spinners? Why aren't they just off spin? And why call left arm leg spin "chinaman" or "wrist spin" (as channel 9 used to label Michael Bevan's bowling).

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Migara

Right arm / Left arm - finger / wrist spin would be better descriptive

Yeah, either call it all off spin or leg spin, or call it finger spin or wrist spin. Anything else just makes an already complicated game more complicated to new viewers.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Jono

Yeah, either call it all off spin or leg spin, or call it finger spin or wrist spin. Anything else just makes an already complicated game more complicated to new viewers.

Nah, part of the sport's charm, IMHO. See also googlies/Bosies/wrong 'uns.

[Jono]

What the hell is "slow left arm" when Jayasuriya bowls faster than Ramesh Powar's "off spin".

[zaremba]

Originally Posted by Jono

What the hell is "slow left arm" for left arm off spinners? Why aren't they just off spin? And why call left arm leg spin "chinaman" or "wrist spin" (as channel 9 used to label Michael Bevan's bowling).

Because, by the logic of the description of right arm spinners, the SLA doesn't spin the ball from the off so isn't an off-spinner, and the chinaman bowler doesn't spin it from the leg so isn't a leg-spinner. So there is a certain logic to it.

Anyhow, it's all part of the game's rich tapestry. All sports have weird and wonderful terminology. Think about rugby positions. Blind side flanker? Tight head prop? Number 6? Wing three quarters? Fly half? Number 10? These things may seem impenetrable to a newcomer to the game, but you get the hang of it eventually.