THE_ORIGINAL_CHINAMAN_SEP95

Achong, Ellis "Puss" Edgar

Born: 16 February 1904, Belmont, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad Died: 29 August 1986 Role: Left-arm off-spin bowler

"Puss" Achong won a place in cricketing folklore for inspiring the phrase `Chinaman` in cricket`s vocabulary. Many years later Achong recalled how it came about after he had stumped England`s Walter Robins during the Old Trafford Test of 1933: "It pitche

d perfectly and turned nicely and Robins saw it coming back at him, he opened his legs and the ball went through. On his way back from the wicket, Robins turned to Learie [Constantine] and said: `Fancy being out to a bloody Chinaman!` because it had been

reported in the Press that I was the first person of Chinese origin to play Test cricket"

A slow left-armer, Achong made his test debut against England at Port-of-Spain in 1930, after bowling trinidad to victory against the visitors. However, Achong found the gap between domestic competition and Test cricket difficult to bridge, although he d

id account for England`s match winning batsman, Patsy Hendren, in that game. A nasty injury sustained in that match hampered his cause and he did not play for the West Indies until 1933 when, once more, a superb performance for Trinidad earned him selection for the tour of England: he took 10 for 147 against British Guiana in the

final of the 1932 inter-colonial tournament. In England he took five wickets to put him second behind the superb Manny Martindale, who claimed 14 victims.

Achong`s Test figures fail to reflect his notable success at the regional level in the West Indies and in the North of England leagues where he took over 1,000 wickets including 10 in innings for Burnley against Todmorden in 1945. The `Chinaman` returned

to the Caribbean in 1952 where he became a Test umpire and heavily involved in Trinidad & Tobago, coaching and selecting the island side.

Teams: Trinidad, Combined XI, West Indies First Class Debut: 22/1/30 Trinidad v M.C.C. First Class Record: 110 wickets (30.23) and 503 runs (14.37) Tests: 6 Test debut: 1/2/30 West Indies v England Test record: 8 wickets (47.25) and 81 runs (8.10)

Thanks to: The Complete Record of West Indian Cricketers