Thursday, October 22, 2009

C

Cameo

A brief but quick-scoring innings e.g. "He played a little cameo of an innings".^{[citation needed]}

Cap

awarded by countries for each appearance at Test level. At county level, just one is given and is awarded not on a player's first appearance, but at a later stage when it is felt he has "proved himself" as a member of the team; some players never receive one. Worcestershire have now abolished this system and award "colours" to each player on his debut.^{[citation needed]}

Captain's Innings/Captain's Knock

a high-scoring individual innings by the captain of the batting team considered to have changed the course of a match.^{[citation needed]}

Carrom Ball

a style of bowling delivery used in cricket, named because the ball is released by flicking the ball between the thumb and a bent middle finger in order to impart spin

Carry

if a hit ball is caught by a fielder on the fly, it is said to have carried. If it bounces just short of the fielder, it is said not to have carried.^[13]

Carry the bat

an opener who is not out at the end of a completed innings is said to have carried his bat.^[1]

Castled

out bowled often by a full length ball or a Yorker.

Catch

to dismiss a batsman by a fielder catching the ball after the batsman has hit it with his bat but before it hits the ground.^[13]

Century

an individual score of at least 100 runs, a significant landmark for a batsman. Sometimes used ironically to describe a bowler conceding over 100 runs in an innings.^[13]

Charge

when the batsman uses his feet and comes out of his batting crease towards the bowler, trying to hit the ball. Also known as giving the bowler the charge,^[1] or stepping down the wicket.

Cherry

The (red) cricket ball, particularly the new ball.^{[citation needed]}

Chest on (also front on)

1. A chest on bowler has chest and hips aligned towards the batsman at the instant of back foot contact.^[1]
2. A batsman is said to be chest on if his hips and shoulders face the bowler.^[1]

Chin music

The use of a series of bouncers from pace bowlers to intimidate a batsman. Historically, it has been used as a tactic particularly against sub-continental teams because of their inexperience of bouncers. Term taken from baseball.^[1]

Chinaman

a left-handed bowler bowling wrist spin (left arm unorthodox). For a right-handed batsman, the ball will move from the off side to the leg side (left to right on the TV screen). Named after Ellis "Puss" Achong, a West Indian left-arm wrist-spin bowler of Chinese descent.^[3]

Chinese cut (also French cut, Harrow Drive, Staffordshire cut or Surrey cut)

an inside edge which misses hitting the stumps by a few centimeters.^[13]

Chuck

to throw the ball instead of bowling it (i.e. by straightening the elbow during the delivery); alsochucker: a bowler who chucks; and chucking: such an illegal bowling action. All are considered offensive terms as they imply cheating.^[1]

(The) Circle

a painted circle (or ellipse), centred in the middle of the pitch, of radius 30 yard (27 m) marked on the field. The circle separates the infield from the outfield, used in policing the fielding regulations in certain one-day versions of the game. The exact nature of the restrictions vary depending on the type of game: see limited overs cricket, Twenty20 and powerplay (cricket).

Clean bowled

bowled, without the ball first hitting the bat or pad.^[2]

Close infield

the area enclosed by a painted dotted circle of 15 yard (13.7 m) radius measured from thewicket on each end of the pitch. Used only in ODI matches.^{[citation needed]}

Coil

alternative term for back foot contact.^{[citation needed]}

Collapse

the loss of several wickets in a short space of time.^{[citation needed]}

Come to the crease

A phrase used to indicate a batsman walking onto the playing arena and arriving at the cricket pitch in the middle of the ground to begin batting.

Corridor of uncertainty

a good line. The corridor of uncertainty is a notional narrow area on and just outside a batsman'soff stump. If a delivery is in the corridor, it is difficult for a batsman to decide whether to leave the ball, play defensively or play an attacking shot. The term was popularised by former England batsman, now commentator, Geoffrey Boycott.^[1]

County cricket

the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales.^[14]

Covers

1. A fielding position between point and mid-off.^[14]
2. The equipment used to protect the pitch from rain.^[14]

Cow corner

the area of the field (roughly) between deep mid-wicket and wide long-on. So called because few 'legitimate' shots are aimed to this part of the field, so fielders are rarely placed there - leading to the concept that cows could happily graze in that area.^[1]

Cow shot

a hard shot, usually in the air, across the line of a full-pitched ball, aiming to hit the ball over theboundary at cow corner, with very little regard to proper technique. Very powerful and a good way of hitting boundary sixes, but must be timed perfectly to avoid being bowled, or either skying the ball or getting a leading edge and so being caught. A type of slog.^[1]

Crease

one of several lines on the pitch near the stumps (the "popping crease", the "return crease" and the "bowling crease") most often referring to the popping crease.^[2]

A used cricket ball

Cricket ball

a hard, solid ball of cork, wound string and polished leather, with a wide raised equatorial seam.^{[citation needed]}

Cricketer

a person who plays cricket.^[15]

Cross-bat shot

a shot played with the bat parallel with the ground, such as a cut or a pull. Also known as a horizontal-bat shot.^[1]

Crowd catch

a fielder's stop which leads to a roar from the crowd because at first impression it is a dismissal, but which turns out to be not out (because of a no ball or a bump ball).^{[citation needed]}

Cut

a shot played square on the off side to a short-pitched delivery wide of off stump. So called because the batsman makes a "cutting" motion as he plays the shot.^[14]

Cutter

a break delivery bowled by a fast or medium-pace bowler with similar action to a spin bowler, but at a faster pace. It is usually used in an effort to surprise the batsman, although somemedium-pace bowlers use the cutter as their stock (main) delivery.^[6]

D

Daisy cutter

When a ball rolls along the pitch or bounces more than 2 times

Dead ball

1. the state of play in between deliveries, in which batsmen may not score runs or be givenout.^[1]
2. called when the ball becomes lodged in the batsman's clothing or equipment.^[14]
3. called when the ball is (or is about to be) bowled when the batsman is not yet ready.^[14]
4. called when a bowler aborts his run up without making a delivery.^[14]
5. called when the batsmen attempt to run leg-byes after the ball has struck the batsman's body, but is deemed to have not offered a shot.^[14]

Dead bat

the bat when held with a light grip such that it gives when the ball strikes it, and the ball loses momentum and falls to the ground.

Death overs

the final 10 overs in a one-day match, in which most bowlers are, usually, hit for lots of runs. Also known as Slog Overs. Bowlers who bowl during the death overs are said to "bowl at the death"

Declaration

the act of a captain voluntarily bringing his side's innings to a close, in the belief that their score is now great enough to prevent defeat. Occurs almost exclusively in timed forms of cricket where a draw is a possible result (such as first class cricket), in order that the side declaring have enough time to bowl the opposition out and therefore win.^[1]

Declaration bowling

a phrase used to describe deliberately poor bowling (Full tosses and Long hops) from the fielding team to allow the batsman to score runs quickly and encourage the opposing captain to declare.

Defensive field

A fielding configuration in which fielders are spread around the field so as to more readily stop hit balls and reduce the number of runs (particularly boundaries) being scored by batsmen, at the cost of fewer opportunities to take catches and dismiss batsmen.

Delivery

the act of bowling the ball.^[6]

Devil's number (also Dreaded number)

a score of 87, regarded as unlucky in Australian cricket. According to Australian superstition, batsmen have a tendency to be dismissed for 87. The superstition is thought to originate from the fact that 87 is 13 runs short of a century. The English equivalent is Nelson.

Diamond duck

regional usage varies, but either a dismissal (usually run out) without facing a delivery[1], or a dismissal (for zero) off the first ball of a team's innings (see also platinum duck).

Dibbly Dobbly

1. a bowler of limited skill.
2. a delivery that is easy to hit.^[1]

Dilscoop

A stroke where a batsman goes on one knee and hits a good length or slightly short of length ball straight over the wicket keeper's head usually to the boundary or over it. Displayed at the world stage by Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan during the ICC World Twenty20 in June 2009 and named after him.

Dink

a gentle shot.

Dipper

a delivery bowled which curves into or away from the batsman before pitching.

Dismiss

to get one of the batsmen out so that he must cease batting.

Direct hit

a run out or run out attempt in which the throw from the deep fieldsman puts down the wicketwithout first being caught by a fieldsman standing at the stumps.

Dolly

a very easy catch.^[1]

Donkey Drop

A ball with a very high trajectory prior to bouncing.^[6]

Doosra

a relatively new off spin delivery developed by Saqlain Mushtaq; the finger spin equivalent of thegoogly, in that it turns the "wrong way". From the Hindi or Urdu for second or other. Muttiah Muralitharan is an expert bowler of doosra.^[1]

Dot ball

a delivery bowled without any runs scored off it, so called because it is recorded in the score book with a single dot.

Double

normally the scoring of a 1000 runs and the taking of 100 wickets in the same season.

Double Hat-trick

bowler taking a wicket off each of four consecutive deliveries that he bowls. Achieved once in international cricket by Lasith Malinga at the 2007 World Cup. Former Hampshire player Kevin James is the only player in first class cricket's history to take a double hat-trick and score a century in the same match, achieved against India at Southampton in 1996.

Down the Pitch (also Down the Wicket)

describing the motion of a batsman towards the bowler prior to or during the delivery, made in the hope of turning a good length ball into a half-volley.

Draw

1. a result in timed matches where the team batting last are not all out, but fail to exceed their opponent's total. Not to be confused with a tie, in which the side batting last is all out or run out of overs with the scores level.
2. an antiquated stroke that has fallen into disuse, it was originally a deliberate shot that resembled the Chinese cut - the ball being played between one's own legs.^[8]

Drift

the slight lateral curved-path movement that a spinner extracts while the ball is in flight. Considered very good bowling.^[1]

Drinks

a short break in play, generally taken in the middle of a session, when refreshments are brought out to the players and umpires by the twelfth men of each side. Drinks breaks do not always take place, but they are usual in test matches, particularly in hot countries.

Drinks Waiter

a jocular term for the twelfth man, referring to his job of bringing out drinks.

Drive

a powerful shot generally hit along the ground or sometimes in the air in a direction betweencover point on the off side and mid-wicket on the leg side, or in an arc between roughly thirty degrees each side of the direction along the pitch.

Drop

1. the accidental "dropping" of a ball that was initially caught by a fielder, thus denying the dismissal of the batsman; when such an event occurs, the batsman is said to have been "dropped".
2. the number of dismissals which occur in a team's innings before a given batsman goes into bat; a batsman batting at 'first drop' is batting at number three in the batting order, going in after one wicket has fallen.

Drop-in pitch

a temporary pitch that is cultivated off-site from the field which also allows other sports to share the use of the field with less chance of injury to the players.

Duck

a batsman's score of nought (zero), as in "he was out for a duck" or "she hasn't got off her duck yet". Originally called a "duck's egg" because of the "0" shape in the scorebook.^[1][3]

Duck under delivery

a short pitched delivery that appears to be a bouncer, making the striker duck to avoid from being hit; but instead of bouncing high, it has a low bounce which causes the batsman to be dismissed LBW, or occasionally bowled.

Duckworth-Lewis method

a mathematically based rule that derives a target score for the side batting second in a rain-affected one-day match.^[1]

E

Economical

a bowler who concedes very few runs from his over(s), i.e. has a low economy rate. The opposite of expensive.

Economy rate

the average number of runs scored per over in the bowler's spell.^[1]

Edge (or snick or nick)

a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat. Top, bottom, inside and outside edges denote the four edges of the bat. The notional four edges are due to the bat being either vertical (inside/outside edge), or horizontal (top/bottom edge). See also leading edge.^[16]

Eleven

another name for one cricket team, which is made of eleven players.^[16]

End

An area of the ground directly behind one of the stumps, used to designate what end a bowler is bowling from (e.g. the Pavilion End).^[16]

Expensive

a bowler who concedes a large number of runs from his over(s), i.e. has a high economy rate.^[16] The opposite of economical.

Extra (also sundry)

a run not attributed to any batsman; there are five types: byes, leg byes, penalties, wides and no-balls. The first three types are called 'fielding' extras (i.e. the fielders are determined to be at fault for their being conceded) and the last two are called 'bowling' extras (the bowler being considered to be at fault for their being conceded) which are included in the runs conceded by the bowler. Should a bowler concede fielding extras when s/he bowls an over but no other runs they are still counted as having bowled a maiden.^[1]

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