🏏Glossary

Terms

Terms people actually search for first.

Googly

A leg-spin bowler's variation delivered with a flick of the wrist so the ball turns the opposite way from usual. Standard leg spin turns away from a right-handed batter, but the googly turns in toward the stumps, threatening bowled or LBW. Because the arm action looks almost identical, batters often only realize which way it's turning after it pitches, making it a leg-spinner's most dangerous weapon.

No-ball

An illegal delivery that awards the batting side one run and doesn't count toward the bowler's six balls in the over, so it must be bowled again. The most common cause is the bowler's front foot landing over the popping crease; a full toss above waist height or an illegal, over-straightened bowling arm also qualify. In limited-overs matches, the next ball becomes a free hit, meaning the batter can't be dismissed except by run out.

Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method

A formula for recalculating the target score when a limited-overs match is interrupted by rain or bad light. It converts overs remaining and wickets remaining into a resource value to produce a fair target for a shortened innings. Devised by statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis and later revised by Steven Stern, it's usually referred to in broadcasts as the DLS target or a DLS result.

Decision Review System (DRS)

A system, commonly called DRS, that lets both teams request a technology-assisted review of an umpire's decision. Ball-tracking follows an LBW delivery's projected path, while high-speed cameras and sound-detection equipment confirm whether the ball touched the bat. Each side has a limited number of unsuccessful reviews per innings. For LBW decisions, the umpire's call standard defers to the on-field decision in marginal cases.

Run out

A dismissal in which, while two batters are running between the wickets, a fielder hits the stumps with the ball and dislodges the bails before the batter running toward that end reaches the crease. It's the one dismissal credited to the fielding side as a whole rather than to the bowler, and it usually results from a miscommunication between the two batters — which is why calling 'Yes,' 'No' or 'Wait' clearly is the first thing any beginner should learn.

Leg Before Wicket (LBW)

A dismissal, commonly called LBW, given when the ball would have hit the stumps but struck the batter's body — usually the pads — before the bat. The umpire works through a sequence of checks: was the delivery legal, did the ball pitch outside off stump, did it hit the bat first, and would it have gone on to hit the stumps. It remains cricket's most debated rule.

Leg spin

A bowling style delivered with a wrist-spinning action that turns the ball away from a right-handed batter, from the leg side toward the off side. The heavy spin allows for large amounts of turn but is correspondingly hard to control accurately. Leg-spinners typically pair it with variations like the googly and the top-spinner; Shane Warne's delivery to Mike Gatting in 1993 remains the sport's defining image of the craft.

Reverse swing

A phenomenon in which an old ball swings later and more sharply than usual, and in the opposite direction from conventional swing. It occurs when one side of the ball is kept smooth and the other allowed to roughen, reversing the usual airflow pattern. Pioneered by Pakistani bowlers and perfected by Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, it's typically used to hand the advantage back to bowlers in the middle overs, when batters usually gain the upper hand.

Boundary

Both the rope marking the edge of the field and the runs scored by hitting the ball to or past it. A shot that reaches or crosses the rope along the ground scores four; one that clears it in the air scores six. A fielder can still catch the ball even while touching the boundary rope, as long as they're airborne and released the ball before landing outside it — the origin of the relay catch, where a fielder tips the ball back in from beyond the rope for a teammate to complete the catch.

Bouncer

A fast, short-pitched delivery that rises toward the batter's chest or head. Rather than aiming directly for a dismissal, it's mainly a psychological weapon meant to push the batter back and provoke a mistimed hook or pull shot. The number allowed per over is capped depending on the format, and a full-height delivery that doesn't bounce first counts as a no-ball. It's also the main reason a helmet and neck guard are mandatory.

Batting average

A measure of how many runs a batter scores per dismissal, calculated as total runs divided by number of times out. Innings ended not out are excluded from the divisor, which pushes the average up. A Test average above 50 is considered elite, and Don Bradman's 99.94 remains the single most famous statistical outlier in all of sport.

Bowled

A dismissal in which the bowler's delivery hits the stumps directly and dislodges the bails. It's the clearest and least disputable form of dismissal — even if the ball grazes the bat or body first, it still counts as bowled if it goes on to knock the stumps over. The bails must come completely off their grooves for the dismissal to count, though; if the ball clips the stumps but the bails stay in place, the batter isn't out.

Declaration

A batting captain's decision to end their own innings voluntarily, even with wickets still in hand — possible only in Tests and first-class cricket. It's made when the captain judges the total is already large enough and wants time to bowl the opposition out for all ten wickets. Declaring too late risks a draw; declaring too early risks losing. It's considered a captain's toughest balancing act.

Century

A score of 100 or more runs by a batter in a single innings, the basic unit of individual achievement in cricket. Fifty or more is a half-century; 200 or more is a double century. Raising the bat to acknowledge the crowd and the dressing room on reaching the mark is a long-standing tradition. Sachin Tendulkar's 100 international centuries remains a record no one else has come close to.

Super over

A one-over shootout used to break a tie in a limited-overs match. Each team nominates two batters and one bowler and faces six balls, with the innings ending immediately if two wickets fall. If the Super Over itself is tied, it's repeated; at the 2019 World Cup final, under the rule in effect at the time, England won on countback of boundaries scored.

Swing

The sideways movement of the ball through the air, a fast bowler's core weapon. Keeping one side of the ball polished and angling the seam creates a difference in air resistance between the two sides, curving its flight. Movement away from a right-handed batter is outswing; movement in toward the batter is inswing. Overcast, humid conditions and a shiny new ball both encourage more swing.

Stump

One of three wooden posts that make up the wicket, driven into the ground at each end of the pitch with two bails resting on top. The three are named off stump, middle stump and leg stump, spanning about 22.9 centimeters (9 inches) in total. They're the target every bowler aims at and the object of both run outs and stumpings; modern broadcasts often use stumps fitted with cameras and microphones.

Stumping

A dismissal in which the wicketkeeper gathers the ball and removes the bails while the batter is out of their crease attempting a shot. It happens almost exclusively against spin bowling, catching a batter who steps forward to smother the turn before it happens and misses. It's the reason keepers stand right up to the stumps for spinners, and the decision is usually confirmed by the third umpire on replay.

Strike rate

A measure of how quickly a batter scores, calculated as runs divided by balls faced, multiplied by 100. A rate in the 50s is fine in Test cricket, but in T20 a batter needs to be above 140 to be considered competitive. Applied to bowlers, the meaning flips: it becomes the average number of balls needed to take a wicket, where a lower number is better.

Slip

A close fielding position set diagonally behind the batter, next to the wicketkeeper, waiting for edges off the bat. Positions closest to the keeper are called first, second and third slip, and beyond that, gully. Teams stack multiple slips early on while the ball is new and moving, and pull them out once a batter is well set. It's regarded as the hardest fielding position, demanding a low stance and sharp reflexes.

Extras

Runs scored without the bat, credited to the team's total but not to any individual batter. This includes wides and no-balls, byes run when the ball passes the batter and wicketkeeper untouched, and leg byes off the batter's body. A high extras count is read as a sign of poor bowling discipline from the fielding side.

Duck

A dismissal for zero runs. Getting out on the very first ball faced is a golden duck; being run out without facing a single ball is a diamond duck; a duck in both innings of a match is a pair. Bradman's dismissal for a duck in his final Test innings in 1948, which cost him a career average of exactly 100 by four runs, is the most famous example.

Over

A set of six legal deliveries bowled consecutively by one bowler from one end of the pitch. Once an over ends, play switches to the other end and a different bowler takes over; the same bowler cannot bowl two overs in a row. Wides and no-balls don't count toward the six and must be bowled again. An ODI innings is made up of 50 overs, a T20 innings of 20.

Off spin

A bowling style delivered with the fingers that turns the ball in toward a right-handed batter, from the off side to the leg side. It's generally more controllable than leg spin, which makes it useful both for taking wickets and for restricting scoring. A variation that turns the opposite way is called a doosra; Muttiah Muralitharan built his record 800 Test wickets on this combination.

All-rounder

A player skilled enough with both bat and ball to earn a place in the national team on either discipline alone. Because one player fills two roles, the captain gains room to field an extra specialist bowler or batter, widening the whole team's balance. Garfield Sobers, Jacques Kallis and Imran Khan are the archetypes; an all-rounder who also keeps wicket is called a wicketkeeper-batter.

Wide

A delivery bowled too far to the side for the batter to reasonably play a normal shot at it. It awards the batting side one run, and in limited-overs cricket the ball must be re-bowled. The exact standard varies by format and is applied far more strictly in white-ball cricket, especially during the powerplay and the final over. A ball passing well over the batter's head can also be called wide.

Yorker

A full-length delivery aimed to land right at the batter's feet, at the crease. It's an awkward position to get the bat down to, threatening bowled and LBW at once, and becomes nearly unplayable if it also swings. Slightly short and it becomes a half-volley; slightly full and it turns into a full toss, both easy to punish. It's the most prized skill in the death overs, and Jasprit Bumrah is its best-known modern exponent.

One Day International (ODI)

A one-day international match, commonly called an ODI, in which each side bats a single innings of 50 overs. Played with a white ball and colored uniforms, with powerplay rules and a 10-over cap per bowler. The format emerged almost by accident, as a replacement for a Melbourne Test washed out by rain in 1971, and the World Cup, launched in 1975, remains its premier stage — widely seen as the format that most classically balances patience with aggression.

Wicket

Refers both to the structure made up of three stumps with bails resting on top, and to the event of a batter being dismissed. Saying a bowler 'took three wickets' means they dismissed three batters. The word is also used for the pitch itself, so figuring out from context which of the three — the structure, the dismissal, or the playing surface — is meant makes following commentary much easier.

Wicketkeeper

The player stationed behind the stumps to collect deliveries that pass the batter, and the only fielder allowed to wear gloves. The keeper completes catches off edges, executes stumpings against batters caught out of their crease, and finishes run outs off throws from the field. Keepers stand close to the stumps against spin and drop well back against pace. In most teams, the role doubles as a specialist batting position.

Economy rate

A measure of how many runs a bowler concedes per over on average, calculated as runs conceded divided by overs bowled. Where wickets show a bowler's ability to get batters out, economy rate shows their ability to keep pressure on. An economy of 7 or below in T20, or around 5 in ODIs, is considered strong, and it's the first number checked when evaluating a death-overs specialist.

Caught

A dismissal in which a fielder catches the ball hit by the batter before it touches the ground — the most common dismissal in cricket. When the wicketkeeper takes the catch it's called caught behind; when the bowler catches their own delivery it's caught and bowled. A slip fielder snapping up an edge is the classic image, and a catch still counts even if the fielder's body is touching the boundary rope at the moment of the take, though the shot itself is then scored as six.

Crease

The white lines painted at each end of the pitch that define a batter's safe zone and where a bowler must land their front foot. The most important is the popping crease: as long as the batter's bat or body is grounded behind this line, they're safe from run out and stumping. If the bowler's front foot lands over the equivalent line at their end, it's a no-ball. That's why batters make a habit of grounding the bat firmly to 'make their ground' when running.

Test cricket

The highest tier of international cricket, played over up to five days with each side batting two innings. It began with the first Australia-England contest in 1877, is played with a red ball and white kit, and covers roughly 90 overs a day. Because time can run out and end a match in a draw, it's regarded as the ultimate test of patience and tactics. Only the ICC's twelve Full Member nations are currently eligible to play it.

Twenty20 (T20)

The shortest official format, with each side batting 20 overs and a match finishing in roughly three hours. It began as an English domestic competition in 2003, expanded internationally by 2005, and the Indian Premier League, launched in 2008, turned it into the richest competition in the sport. The first six overs — the powerplay — and the final overs — the death overs — are usually where matches are decided; it's also the format chosen for the 2028 Olympics.

Powerplay

A phase in limited-overs cricket during which the number of fielders allowed near the boundary is restricted, encouraging attacking batting. In ODIs, only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle for the first 10 overs, with restrictions easing in stages afterward; in T20, this applies to the first 6 overs. It's a chance for the batting side to pile up boundaries and the best window for the fielding side to hunt wickets with the new ball.

Partnership

The runs jointly scored by the two batters at the crease together before either is dismissed. Scorecards record the total for each numbered wicket partnership separately, and it's the key stat used to judge whether a struggling innings has been turned around. Often one batter attacks while the other holds firm, with communication about who takes strike deciding how well the partnership functions.

Follow-on

In Test cricket, the option available to a team that has led by 200 runs or more after batting first to force the opposition to bat again immediately. It's a way to force a result when time is short, but it comes at a heavy cost to the bowling side's stamina. India's win over Australia at Kolkata in 2001, after being forced to follow on and recovering through Laxman and Dravid's partnership, remains the most famous example.

Pitch

The prepared strip of compacted soil, 22 yards long and about 3 meters wide, at the center of the field with a wicket standing at each end. How much grass it carries, how much moisture is in it, and how much it has cracked all determine how the ball behaves and shape the character of the whole match. A green pitch helps seam and swing bowling; a dry, cracked one helps spin. Reading the pitch correctly before the toss is a captain's first test of the day.

Hat-trick

Three wickets taken by one bowler on three consecutive deliveries. It still counts even if an over, an innings, or even the match changes in between, as long as the deliveries themselves are consecutive from that bowler; a wide or no-ball in between doesn't break the sequence. Despite sounding like it was borrowed from soccer, the term actually comes from 19th-century cricket, where a bowler achieving the feat was traditionally awarded a hat.

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