The tale of yorker deliveries and their origin

February 22, 2021

By K.R. Nayar

Yorker is the most talked about delivery today, especially in limited-over cricket. The term yorker can be traced to the 18^th century and it is said that it originated from Yorkshire. However, today it has become one of the toughest deliveries to tackle and is being used by some of the best bowlers to beat batsmen.

Yorker deliveries have become the most powerful weapon for bowlers ever since there has been an increase in the number of limited-over matches. Bowlers with the capability to bowl accurate yorkers are most wanted by teams. Fast bowlers now aim to master the art of bowling yorkers along with other techniques. Even spinners are working hard to get this into their armoury.

For a long time, fast bowlers used bouncers as their powerful weapon. But ever since batsmen started wearing helmets the fear for bouncers faded away, and today it is the yorker that most batsmen worry about. Given that a yorker is a full-length delivery that is pitched right in front of a batsman’s feet, it can become very hard to tackle. Bowlers aim at the batsmen’s shoes while bowling a yorker, and in most cases, the batsman gets trapped leg-before or clean bowled. The best death-over bowlers are those with the ability to bowl yorkers.

Bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada, Lasith Malinga, Trent Boult, and Mitchell Starc are most feared for their yorkers. These days, a few spinners have also been trying out yorkers. We saw Pragyan Ojha yorking batsmen in the last edition of the Indian Premier League while Harbhajan Singh has used it even in other international matches.

So, at a time when bowlers are trying to master yorkers, it would be interesting to know about the origin of this weapon. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term originated from Yorkshire, an English Cricket County team. It is believed that players from this county often bowled this delivery. A lot of studies have been conducted on the term 'yorkers' and it has been traced to the 18^th and 19^th centuries. One study claims that the meaning of a yorker is cheater. By the 20^th century, the term york was used for anything quick-witted. It also reached a stage where some people used the term when they got cheated saying “I got yorked by that man.”

Lasith Malinga

Some say that the word Yuerke in English, which means trick or deceive, also played a role. Though people from New York are called New Yorkers, fortunately they have not been known as people who play tricks!

There is an 1861 report which describes the yorker as an easy delivery. Talking about a batsman facing yorkers, the report also added that “he could not even hit a yorker", which means some considered it as a full toss.

Waqar Younis

Following the advent of T20 cricket, a new classification to the term yorker has emerged called 'wide yorker'. This is bowled wide of the batsman on the off side to restrict the batsman from getting runs.

Cricket writers added more glamour to yorkers describing some of the deliveries as 'sizzling yorkers'. Pakistan’s Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis used to bowl such beauties. In fact, Younis’ yorkers were called 'toe crushers' since many batsmen had their toes injured after the ball hit their shoes.

Whenever bowlers fail to produce a yorker, it was called 'an attempted yorker'. This means that the delivery did not pitch at the feet but inches before, and many batsmen, by converting it into a half volley, have hit them for boundaries and sixes.

The advantage for a bowler who has mastered bowling yorkers is that he can pick wickets in any country or on any type of pitch. South African pacer Dale Steyn, who had bagged many wickets with his yorkers, once said: “A 150 or 145km yorker is absolutely no different whether you bowl it Nagpur, Chennai, Johannesburg or Perth. It is the skill behind the delivery.... what the planning is behind the delivery... that is what counts at the end of the day.”