Cricket glossary
Cricket has its own language. Here are 68 words you will hear most often, explained simply. Jump to a letter, or use your browser's find tool.
A
- All-rounder
- A player good enough to be picked for both batting and bowling.
- Appeal
- A shout from the fielding side, usually "Howzat?", asking the umpire to give a batter out.
B
- Bails
- The two small pieces of wood that sit on top of the stumps. At least one must fall for a batter to be bowled, stumped or run out.
- Beamer
- A full toss above waist height. It is always a no-ball.
- Bouncer
- A short-pitched ball that rises towards the batter's head or chest.
- Boundary
- The edge of the playing area. Also a shot that scores four or six.
- Bye
- A run scored when the ball passes the batter and keeper without touching the bat or body.
C
- Carrom ball
- A spin delivery flicked out with the middle finger, like a carrom board striker.
- Century
- A score of 100 or more runs by one batter in an innings.
- Cover drive
- An elegant shot hit along the ground through the cover region on the off side.
- Crease
- The white lines near the stumps. A batter is safe when part of their bat or body is grounded behind the popping crease.
D
- Dead ball
- A ball from which no runs can be scored and no one can be out, for example after the ball is settled in the keeper's gloves.
- Death overs
- The last few overs of a limited-overs innings, when batters attack hardest.
- Declaration
- In Test cricket, a captain ending their team's innings early to give bowlers more time.
- Doosra
- An off spinner's ball that turns the opposite way, away from a right-handed batter.
- Dot ball
- A legal delivery from which no runs are scored.
- DRS
- The Decision Review System, which lets teams challenge umpiring decisions. See DRS explained.
- Duck
- Getting out for zero. A golden duck is getting out on the first ball faced.
E
- Economy rate
- Runs a bowler concedes per over.
- Extras
- Runs not scored off the bat: wides, no-balls, byes, leg byes and penalty runs.
F
- Fifty
- A score of 50 or more runs by one batter in an innings, also called a half-century.
- Follow-on
- In a Test, a team trailing by a big margin after the first innings can be made to bat again straight away.
- Free hit
- The ball after a no-ball in limited-overs cricket, from which the batter cannot be bowled, caught or LBW.
- Full toss
- A ball that reaches the batter without bouncing.
G
- Good length
- The ideal spot for a bowler to land the ball, making the batter unsure whether to play forward or back.
- Googly
- A leg spinner's ball that turns the opposite way to the usual leg break.
H
- Hat-trick
- Three wickets in three consecutive deliveries by the same bowler.
- Hook
- A shot played to a short ball at head height, swinging it round to the leg side.
I
- Innings
- One team's turn to bat.
K
- Knuckle ball
- A slower ball gripped with the knuckles, so it comes out with little spin.
L
- Leg break
- A leg spinner's stock ball, which turns away from a right-handed batter.
- Leg bye
- A run scored when the ball hits the batter's body, not the bat, while they try to play a shot or avoid the ball.
- Leg side
- The half of the field behind the batter's legs when they stand to hit. Also called the on side.
- Leg stump
- The stump nearest the batter's legs.
M
- Maiden
- An over in which the bowler concedes no runs.
- Middle order
- The batters who come in at numbers 4 to 7.
N
- Net run rate
- A tournament tiebreaker based on how fast a team scores compared with its opponents. Try our NRR calculator.
- Nightwatchman
- A lower-order batter sent in late in a day's play to protect a better batter.
- No-ball
- An illegal delivery that gives the batting side a run and does not count in the over. See no-ball rules.
O
- Off break
- An off spinner's stock ball, which turns into a right-handed batter.
- Off side
- The half of the field the batter faces when they stand to hit.
- Off stump
- The stump furthest from the batter's legs.
- Opener
- One of the two batters who start the innings.
- Over
- Six legal deliveries bowled by one bowler from one end.
P
- Partnership
- Runs scored while two particular batters are together.
- Popping crease
- The line four feet in front of the stumps that marks the batter's safe ground.
- Powerplay
- Overs with fielding restrictions. See powerplay rules.
- Pull
- A shot to a short ball around waist or chest height, hit to the leg side.
R
- Reverse sweep
- A sweep played the opposite way, sending the ball to the off side.
- Reverse swing
- Swing with an old ball that moves the opposite way to conventional swing.
- Run out
- A dismissal when a fielder breaks the wicket while a batter is out of the crease trying to run.
- Run rate
- Average runs scored per over.
S
- Seam
- The raised stitching on the ball. Seam bowlers make the ball move off it after bouncing.
- Slower ball
- A ball bowled much slower than usual with a similar action, to trick the batter.
- Strike rate
- For a batter, runs per 100 balls. For a bowler, balls per wicket.
- Stumped
- A dismissal when the keeper breaks the wicket after the batter steps out of the crease and misses the ball.
- Super Over
- A one-over-per-side tiebreaker used in many limited-overs competitions.
- Sweep
- A shot played down on one knee, hitting the ball round to the leg side. Common against spin.
- Swing
- Sideways movement of the ball through the air.
- Switch hit
- A shot where the batter swaps their grip and stance, so a right-hander bats left-handed.
T
- Tail
- The lower-order batters, usually the bowlers.
- Tailender
- A batter from the tail.
- Twelfth man
- A substitute fielder who can replace an injured player in the field.
U
- Umpire's call
- In DRS, a result too close to overturn, so the on-field decision stands.
W
- Wicket
- The three stumps and two bails. It also means a dismissal, or the pitch itself.
- Wicketkeeper
- The fielder who stands behind the stumps wearing gloves and pads.
- Wide
- A ball too far from the batter to hit with a normal shot. See the wide rule.
Y
- Yorker
- A full ball aimed to land at the batter's feet, right under the bat.