What is it?
It’s another name for the googly or the wrong ’un, a type of delivery bowled by the right-arm leg-spinner. It’s employed as a variation to the leg-break, which spins from leg to off. The Bosie turns from off to leg, and is used to bamboozle the batsman.
What is the term’s origin?
It’s an eponym, in honour of its inventor Bernard Bosanquet, the England and Middlesex cricketer of the early 1900s. An all-rounder who initially bowled useful medium-pace, Bosanquet turned to leg-spin, and changed the game of cricket.
How was it conceived?
At ‘Twisti-Twosti’, a game which involved bouncing a tennis ball on a table-top. Bosanquet experimented and realised that after one “which broke in a certain direction,” he could, with a subtle change of the wrist, get the ball to go the other way.
Where is the term used?
The Bosie – both the expression and the delivery – appeared to captivate Australia, where the word is still heard sometimes. Across most of the cricket world, however, ‘googly’ – a term whose origin remains unknown – is far more popular.