Cricket Terms and Expressions - An Overview

Cricket is a rather odd sport, something that evenmatch that is played over a multiple days (three for a
the die-hard cricket fan would admit. Therefore, itminimum) and allows two innings per team.
comes as no surprise that cricket has many peculiarTest match: A Test match is a five-day First class
and even quaint expressions. For instance, you canfixture played between countries that have Test
have a 'leggie' bowling a googly to a night watchmanmatch status.
with an offside field in place. The batsman plays aOne-day match: These are known as "List A"
forward defensive shot and pops a catch to sillyfixtures- comprising official matches at international
mid-on.and domestic level. International matches in this
Clearly, cricket's terms and expressions require someformat are One-day Internationals.
explanations. You may even come across referencesTwenty20 or T20: These are official 20-overs per
to cricket in everyday use like "it's not cricket" orside matches. International T20 matches are
"sticky wicket". Indeed, it is impossible to cover all ofTwenty20 Internationals.
cricket's unique terms and expressions in a fewMethods of dismissal
hundred words but one can come close enough.When a batsman is "run out", that means that the
Field of playfielding team hit the wicket at the end he was
Pitch- Also known as the wicket; it is the normallyrunning to before he had the chance to cross the
bare rectangle in the middle of the fieldcrease. "LBW" (leg before wicket) is where the
Wicket- Oddly, this refers to the pitch, the stumpsumpire adjudged that the ball would hit the stumps if
and bails or the more abstract concept of ait did not hit the batsman's pad first- with other
batsman's dismissal.somewhat complicated considerations.
Crease- Please "bat in your crease" because battingA batsman who is "bowled" has the ball he faces hit
out of the crease- the white line on the pitch, inthe stumps to dislodge a bail(s). When commentators
front of either wicket- has attendant risks.say that a batsman is bowled neck and crop, the
Boundary- Usually a rope used to define the field ofstumps are normally uprooted or splayed, usually
play.after the batsmen missed the ball. A batsman is
Field positions"stumped" when he attempts to play the ball and is
Nearly all of the field positions have odd names. Aout of the crease when the wicketkeeper removes
guide to fielding positions is necessary for thethe bail or uproots the stump.
uninitiated. Some of the peculiar names that oneYou can get a full library of cricket terms and
might come across when following cricket include: Sillyexpressions. If you try to remember all of them, you
mid-on and Silly mid-off, Fine leg, Square leg,might even prevent memory loss. The list of cricket
Midwicket, Third Man, Point, Slips and Gully. Theterms and expression is so long that we should call it
offside is the side of the field that the striker faces,"Crickonics". So, do not get caught out when
while the leg side is opposite side.following cricket, stumped or Yorked by cricket trivia-
Types of matchesget with your Crickonics!
First-class: A First class match is an official cricket