Cricket Terms: A Plain-English Guide to Cricket Jargon
A plain-English guide to cricket terms, from overs, wides and no balls to LBW, run outs and declarations, with every word explained in simple language.
The core cricket terms are short labels for parts of the game. An over is six valid deliveries bowled from one end, and a wicket is the set of three stumps and two bails at each end. A wide is a delivery the umpire judges too far from the striker to hit with a normal stroke, or one that bounces over the striker’s head height, a no ball is an illegal delivery that gives the batting side a one-run penalty, and LBW (leg before wicket) is a dismissal where the ball hits the batter’s body, not the bat, when it would have gone on to hit the stumps, subject to the conditions in Law 36. The rest of this cricket jargon is explained below, following the MCC Laws of Cricket and the ICC playing conditions.
The Playing Area: Pitch, Creases and Wickets
- Pitch: the rectangle between the two sets of stumps. Law 6 sets its length at 22 yards and its width at 10 feet.
- Wicket: the target at each end, made of three wooden stumps topped by a pair of wooden bails.
- Broken wicket: under Law 29, a wicket counts as broken once a bail has been knocked completely off the top, or once a stump has come out of the ground.
- Bowling crease: the line that marks each end of the pitch, with the stumps standing at its centre.
- Popping crease: a line running parallel to the bowling crease, 4 feet in front of it.
- Return creases: two lines set at right angles to the popping crease, one on each side of the stumps. During delivery, the bowler’s back foot has to come down inside the relevant one without touching it.
- Off side and on side: the two halves of the field. Which half counts as the off side depends on how the striker is standing as each delivery begins. The ICC playing conditions also label the on side as the leg side.
Bowling Terms
- Over: six valid deliveries bowled from one end. Overs are bowled from each end in turn, and no bowler may send down two overs in a row.
- No ball: a delivery that breaks the Laws. One common example is a front foot that lands with no part of it behind the popping crease. The batting side gets a one-run penalty, and the delivery is not one of the six in the over. Being bowled, caught, LBW or stumped are all ruled out on a no ball.
- Wide: a delivery the umpire judges to be out of the striker’s reach for a normal cricket stroke. Under Law 22, the umpire considers where the striker is standing, and also anywhere the striker has stood since the ball came into play. The umpire also considers where a striker in a normal batting position would be. Separately, any delivery that bounces and then goes over the head height of a striker standing upright at the popping crease counts as a wide. A wide earns a one-run penalty and does not count as one of the six balls.
Batting and Scoring Terms
- Striker and non-striker: the striker is the batter receiving the delivery, and the non-striker is the partner at the other end.
- Run: scored each time the two batters, with the ball in play, cross and reach safety at the far end.
- Boundary four: earned when the ball reaches the boundary after touching the ground inside the field, or when it gets there without having come off the bat.
- Boundary six: earned only when the ball comes off the bat and first touches the ground beyond the boundary, with no bounce inside the field.
- Bye: a run taken when the delivery goes past the striker without touching bat or body.
- Leg bye: a run taken after the ball first strikes the batter’s body. The umpire allows it only if the striker attempted a shot or made an effort to avoid being hit.
- Extras: runs that do not come off the bat. The Laws record them separately as no ball extras, wides, byes, leg byes and penalty runs.
- Penalty runs: runs awarded by the umpires when a side breaks certain Laws. Many of these awards are worth 5 runs.
- Innings: a side’s turn to bat. Before the match, the teams agree whether each side gets one innings or two.
- Declaration: the batting captain’s decision to close the innings while the ball is dead. Under the Laws this is allowed in any innings except the final innings of the match.
- Follow-on: in a two-innings match, a side that bats first and builds a big enough lead may require the opponents to bat again straight away.
Ways to Get Out
Laws 32 to 40 each cover one method of dismissal:
- Bowled: a fair delivery breaks the striker’s wicket.
- Caught: a fielder makes a fair catch after the ball comes off the bat, before it touches the ground.
- Hit the ball twice: the striker deliberately hits the ball a second time, outside what the Laws allow.
- Hit wicket: the striker breaks their own wicket with bat or body.
- LBW (leg before wicket): the ball hits the striker’s body when it would have gone on to hit the wicket, subject to the conditions in Law 36.
- Obstructing the field: a batter wilfully tries to obstruct or distract the fielding side.
- Run out: the wicket is fairly broken while a batter is out of their ground.
- Stumped: the wicket-keeper breaks the wicket while the striker is out of their ground and not trying to run.
- Timed out: an incoming batter is not ready within the time the Laws allow.
Match and Result Terms
- Test, ODI and T20I: under the ICC playing conditions, a Test gives each side two innings and is scheduled for five days. An ODI gives each side one innings of up to 50 overs, and a T20 international gives each side one innings of up to 20 overs.
- Tie: every innings has been completed and the two scores are level.
- Draw: a match that ends without a win or a tie.
- Super Over: the ODI and T20I playing conditions use a Super Over to settle a match that finishes with scores level.
- DLS: the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method, used under the ODI and T20I playing conditions to set a revised target in an interrupted match.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “How’s That?” mean in cricket?
It is the fielding side’s appeal to the umpire. Under Law 31, an umpire only gives a batter out once a fielder has appealed, and that one phrase covers every way of being out.
What is the difference between a bye and a leg bye?
A bye is run when the ball goes past the striker without touching bat or body. A leg bye is run after the ball hits the striker’s body, and it only counts if the striker attempted a shot or made an effort to avoid being hit.
What are extras in cricket?
Extras are runs that do not come off the bat. They are recorded as no ball extras, wides, byes, leg byes and penalty runs.
