Quick answer: Cricket has its own vocabulary, with words like wicket, over and duck. A handful of key terms make a match far easier to follow.
The Basics
Cricket is played between two teams who take turns to bat and bowl. The batting team tries to score runs; the bowling team tries to get the batters out. After both teams have batted, the team with more runs wins.
Key Terms
- Wicket: has two meanings: the set of three stumps with bails on top, and also the act of getting a batter out. Example: The bowler took five wickets.
- Over: a set of six legal balls bowled by one bowler.
- Run: the basic unit of scoring, made by running between the wickets.
- Boundary: a ball hitting the rope scores four runs; clearing it in the air scores six.
- Innings: a team’s turn to bat.
- Duck: when a batter is out without scoring.
- Century: a score of 100 runs or more by one batter.
- Maiden over: an over in which no runs are scored.
Ways of Getting Out
- Bowled: the ball hits the stumps.
- Caught: a fielder catches the ball before it bounces.
- LBW (leg before wicket): the ball would have hit the stumps but hit the batter’s leg first.
- Run out: the fielders break the wicket before the batter reaches safety.
- Stumped: the wicketkeeper breaks the wicket while the batter is outside the crease.
Match Formats
- Test: up to five days, with two innings per team.
- One-Day International (ODI): one innings per side, limited overs.
- T20: twenty overs per side, a fast format of about three hours.
Fun Words
A yorker is a ball that lands right at the batter’s feet. A googly is a spin delivery that turns the opposite way from what the batter expects. Sledging is verbal teasing of opponents. A hat-trick is three wickets in three consecutive balls.
Final Thoughts
Cricket may seem complicated, but its language is quite logical. Learn these terms, and the next time you watch a match, you will understand every shout from the commentary box.
