Ellis Achong

Who was Ellis Achong?

Ellis Edgar "Puss" Achong was a sportsman from Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. He played cricket for the West Indies and was the first person of Chinese descent to play in a Test match. Left-arm unorthodox spin is sometimes known as "slow left-arm chinaman" which is thought to be in his honour.

Achong was born in Belmont, Port of Spain. He played football as a left-winger for a local team, Maple, in the 1920s and 1930s, and represented Trinidad and Tobago from 1919 to 1932.

Achong is better known for playing cricket. He was mainly a bowler. His stock ball was left-arm orthodox spin, but one of his variations was unorthodox left-arm spin. After bowling this variation to have Walter Robins stumped at Old Trafford in 1933, it is reputed that Robins said to the umpire Joe Hardstaff Sr., "fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman". Learie Constantine is said to have replied: "Do you mean the bowler or the ball?" An unorthodox left-arm spin delivery is known as a "chinaman" as a result. However, Achong was not the earliest recorded Test match player to bowl unorthodox left-arm spin – that is believed to be Charles Llewellyn of South Africa.