The Googly!

As non-professional weekend cricketers, we pride ourselves in the knowledge of the game's nuances. The best of the cricket pundits claim to be able to predict what the ball would do just by looking at the bowler's hand at the point of release. And of course, we discuss the game off the field as well. One such occasion, a team-mate wanted to test my credentials. "Tell me whether it's off-spin, leg-spin, doosra, googly or whatever" he blurted as he turned his arm over. "Back of the hand facing the batsman. Now that has to be a googly" I insisted. Pat came the retort, "Sorry, NO ball".