Cricket terminologies are something that you should be aware of if, you recently got hooked to this game and want to understand it better. Cricket has evolved and come a long way since it was first played in Britain sometime in the 16th century. It is a sport which involves a lot more regulations, disciplines and variations than any other popular sport. If you are confused about a few terminologies then fret not; we bring you a collection of cricket terms which will help you understand the gentleman’s game better.
Arm ball is a variation bowled by finger spinners. As the term suggests, an arm ball is a delivery which goes on with the arm and deceives the batsman with the little or lack of turn off the surface. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan is currently the best exponent of the arm ball.
If any cricketer tries to change the condition of the ball by artificial means in order to gain an undue advantage then it is classified as ball-tampering. This term would still give Australia’s Steve Smith and David Warner sleepless nights. Both cricketers were handed a one-year ban for masterminding a plan to use sandpaper to tamper with the ball in March 2018.
Any delivery which hasn’t bounced and is over the waist of the batsman is called a beamer. It is considered to be a dangerous delivery and is often bowled accidentally. The bowler usually apologises straight away after bowling a beamer. If the offence is repeated for the second time in the same game, the bowler is banned from bowling during that game.
When a batsman is out on zero i.e. before scoring a single run in a game. Usually, the popular term to describe such an instance is ‘duck’. Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan holds the unwanted record of registering the most blobs in international cricket as he was dismissed on a ‘duck’ 59 times out of 328 innings.
An effort ball bowled by a bowler which is pitched short and reaches the batsman at chest or head high. This kind of delivery is also referred to as a ‘bouncer’ and is usually bowled by the bowler to intimidate the batsman. According to the ruling, a bowler is not allowed to bowl more than two bouncers in a single over.
When a team score runs despite the ball not hitting the bat nor the body of the batsman. More often than not, it is a result of an error by the wicket-keeper who fails to collect the ball behind the stumps.
A left-arm spinner who uses his wrists to turn the ball into a right-hander. The term reportedly originated after Puss Achong, the first cricketer of Chinese origin, befuddled an English batsman at Manchester in 1933. India will be relying on their chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav a lot during the ongoing World Cup.
Also called as the protected area, danger area is an unmarked imaginary rectangular area in the middle of the pitch where players are not allowed to run. Running on this area will damage the pitch and make it unfair for the rest of the players across both teams. An umpire has the authority to reprimand bowlers and batsman who keep running on this area despite a warning.
Law 41.5 was introduced in 2017 to eradicate ‘fake fielding’ from cricket. A fielder dives and mocks a throw to deliberately distract the batsman from taking an extra run will be reprimanded and the umpire consequently will award five penalty runs to the batting team, under this law.
An Urdu word for the ‘other one’ which was discovered by Pakistan’s off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq. It is a delivery in an off-spinner’s arsenal which turns away from the batsman rather than the usual incoming one.
Cricket terminologies are easy to understand and there are a lot more than the ones we mentioned. We will come up with more such articles if you enjoy reading Cricket pieces.
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