Cricket Terminology
The Cricket Codex
Cricket Terms & Tactics Explained
Every term, tactic, and piece of cricket lingo — explained properly. From cover drives to Duckworth-Lewis, no more nodding along.
Dolly / Sitter
fieldingAn easy, routine catch that any fielder is expected to take comfortably.
A dolly or sitter is a catch that arrives gently, at the right height, with time to position. The term is used — often cruelly — when such a catch is dropped. In cricket there is no such thing as a 'simple' catch under pressure, but a dolly is defined as one that removes all variables. Dropping a sitter can be career-defining in the wrong direction. 'Grassed a dolly' is one of the most unflattering phrases in cricket commentary.
"Top-edge goes straight up off a bouncer — 20 metres into the sky. Ball comes down exactly where the square leg fielder is standing. He settles under it, waits, waits... and drops it. The commentary box falls silent."
106 terms
Cover Drive
An elegant off-side shot played to a full delivery, driving through the cover region.
Widely regarded as the most aesthetically pleasing shot in cricket. The batter gets to the pitch of the ball, presents a full face of the bat, and drives through the gap between cover and mid-off. Requires perfect timing and head position. On a good batting surface, a well-timed cover drive is nearly impossible to field.
"Batter leans into a full delivery outside off stump, bat swinging in a smooth arc — the ball races to the boundary through covers before the fielder can move."
All Cricket Terms
Cover Drive
An elegant off-side shot played to a full delivery, driving through the cover region.
Pull Shot
A horizontal bat shot played to a short-pitched delivery, pulling it through the leg side.
Sweep Shot
A shot played down on one knee, sweeping the ball from off side to leg side across the body.
Reverse Sweep
A sweep played in the opposite direction — from leg stump area to the off side.
Switch Hit
The batter changes their batting stance mid-delivery, effectively becoming a left-hander mid-shot.
Ramp / Scoop
A deflection shot that flicks the ball over the wicketkeeper's head or over fine leg.
Nurdle
Gently working the ball into gaps for singles, with minimal power and maximum placement.
Upper Cut
Cutting a short, wide delivery over the slip cordon or third man area for a boundary.
Farming the Strike
Manipulating the scoring to ensure the better batter faces the majority of deliveries.
Duck
When a batter is dismissed without scoring any runs.
Leave
Deliberately not playing at a delivery, allowing it to pass without attempting a shot.
Charge / Down the Track
The batter advances down the pitch toward the bowler before the delivery arrives.
Declaration
A captain voluntarily ends their team's innings before all wickets fall, usually in Test cricket.
Nightwatchman
A lower-order batter sent in to protect a top-order batter late in the day.
Doosra
An off-spinner's delivery that turns the opposite way — away from a right-handed batter.
Googly
A leg-spinner's delivery that turns the opposite way — into a right-handed batter instead of away.
Carrom Ball
A delivery flicked off the bent middle finger, like a carrom board flick, that spins unpredictably.
Flipper
A leg-spinner's backspin delivery that skids on low and fast, trapping batters LBW.
Yorker
A full delivery aimed at the batter's feet, landing in the crease area.
Bouncer
A short-pitched delivery that rises sharply to chest or head height.
Reverse Swing
When an old, rough ball swings in the opposite direction to conventional swing.
Seam Movement
The ball deviating off the pitch after landing on its seam, cutting sideways.
Death Bowling
The specialised art of bowling in the final overs of a T20 or ODI to restrict boundaries.
Knuckleball
A pace bowler's slower delivery, gripped with the knuckles instead of fingertips.
Beamer
An illegal full toss that reaches the batter at head height — highly dangerous.
Arm Ball
An off-spinner's delivery that goes straight on with the arm instead of turning.
Chinaman
Left-arm wrist spin — the left-handed equivalent of leg spin.
Corridor of Uncertainty
The ideal bowling line — just outside off stump where the batter is unsure whether to play or leave.
Stock Ball
A bowler's standard, go-to delivery — their default weapon.
Conventional Swing
The ball curving through the air using the contrast between the shiny and rough sides.
Slip Cordon
The group of fielders positioned behind the batter on the off side to catch edges.
Gully
A fielding position between point and slip, positioned for edges and cuts off the off side.
Silly Mid-On / Silly Mid-Off
A close-in catching position directly in front of the batter on the respective sides.
Cow Corner
The deep fielding position between long-on and deep mid-wicket — where slog shots land.
Sweeper
A deep boundary fielder positioned to cut off balls hit firmly along the ground.
Short Leg
A brave close-in fielder positioned on the leg side, very near the batter.
Screamer
An exceptional, athletic catch that seems almost impossible — the crowd screams.
Dolly / Sitter
An easy, routine catch that any fielder is expected to take comfortably.
LBW
Leg Before Wicket — out when the ball strikes the pad and would have hit the stumps.
Mankad
Running out the non-striker before delivering the ball, when they back up too far.
DRS
Decision Review System — technology-aided review that teams can use to challenge on-field decisions.
No Ball
An illegal delivery — the bowling side is penalised with an extra run and a free hit in limited overs.
Wide
A delivery bowled too far from the batter — adds a penalty run and must be rebowled.
Free Hit
A penalty delivery after a front-foot no ball where the batter cannot be out (except run-out).
Powerplay
Overs with fielding restrictions — limited fielders outside the 30-yard circle.
Follow-on
When the team batting first forces the opposition to bat again immediately after their first innings.
Dead Ball
A delivery where play is temporarily suspended and no runs or wickets count.
Super Over
A one-over-per-side tie-breaker used when scores are level at the end of a limited-overs match.
Hit Wicket
The batter is out when they dislodge the bails with their bat, body, or clothing.
Obstructing the Field
The batter is out for deliberately blocking, distracting, or interfering with a fielder.
Timed Out
A batter is out if they take more than 3 minutes to arrive at the crease after a wicket falls.
Test Match
The longest, oldest and most prestigious format of cricket — played over up to 5 days.
ODI
One Day International — each side bats 50 overs in a match completed in one day.
T20
Twenty20 cricket — each side bats 20 overs in a fast-paced, entertaining match.
T10
Ten-over cricket — the shortest professional format, completing in about 90 minutes.
Day-Night Test
A Test match played partly under floodlights using a pink ball instead of red.
First-Class Cricket
Multi-day domestic cricket that follows Test match rules — the pathway to international cricket.
Bowling Change
A captain's decision to replace one bowler with another — one of the most frequent tactical decisions.
Containing
Bowling to restrict runs rather than taking wickets — building pressure through dot balls.
Run Chase
The batting team's pursuit of a target set by the opposition.
Bowling in Spells
Managing bowlers in focused, limited bursts to maintain their effectiveness.
Partnership
The batting contribution made by two players batting together — a key unit of team batting.
Setting the Tone
Establishing dominance in the early overs through aggressive, decisive play.
Pressure Bowling
Building a series of dot balls to force batters into mistakes through accumulated pressure.
Jaffa
An unplayable delivery — perfect in every way. The batter had no chance.
Pie
A poor, easy-to-hit delivery — the opposite of a jaffa.
Rabbit / Bunny
A batter who repeatedly gets out to the same bowler — or simply can't bat at all.
Ferret
The last batter in — they go in after the rabbits.
Gardening
A batter patting down the pitch surface between deliveries with their bat.
Howzat
The fielding team's appeal — contraction of 'How is that?' — asking the umpire to give the batter out.
Grubber
A delivery that stays very low after pitching — shooting along the ground instead of rising.
Cannon
An exceptionally fast bowler — someone who bowls with raw, extreme pace.
Fly Slip
An athletic fielder positioned between gully and point to cut off hard-hit deflections.
Maiden Over
An over in which no runs are scored off the bat — all dot balls.
Sticky Wicket
A pitch that is difficult to bat on due to drying moisture — the ball seams and turns unpredictably.
DLS Method
Duckworth-Lewis-Stern — the formula used to set a fair revised target when rain interrupts a limited-overs match.
Net Run Rate
The tiebreaker stat — runs scored per over minus runs conceded per over, across a whole tournament.
Hat-trick
A bowler taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries — one of cricket's rarest feats.
Strike Rate
A batter's runs scored per 100 balls faced — the standard measure of scoring speed.
Economy Rate
The average number of runs a bowler concedes per over — the core measure of bowling containment.
Century
A score of 100 or more runs by a single batter in one innings — cricket's most celebrated batting milestone.
All-Rounder
A player genuinely good enough at both batting and bowling to be picked for either skill alone.
Man of the Match
The award given to the standout individual performer in a single match.
Pinch Hitter
A lower-order batter promoted up the order specifically to attack fresh bowling early.
Finisher
A specialist batter whose role is to accelerate and close out an innings in the final overs.
Anchor
A batter who holds one end together, building a platform while others attack around them.
Toss
The coin flip before a match that decides who chooses to bat or field first.
Choke
When a team or player collapses under pressure in a match they were expected to win.
Castled
An informal way of saying a batter was bowled, especially when the stumps are knocked flying.
Clean Sweep
Winning every single match in a series against the same opponent.
Concede
Runs given away by the bowler or fielding side, or a wicket/lead given up.
Contrast Swing
A form of swing that comes from surface roughness on the ball, not the seam's angle.
Accumulator
A batter who builds an innings through steady ones and twos rather than boundaries.
Dead Rubber
A match in a series that no longer affects the series result.
Death Over
The final overs of a limited-overs innings, when batters attack and bowlers try to contain.
Debut
A player's first match at a given level, for a team or format.
Maiden
An over with no runs off the bat, wides, or no-balls. Also used for a player's first-ever milestone (maiden century, maiden call-up).
Wicket
The word with three different meanings in cricket — the stumps, a dismissal, and the pitch itself.
Crease
The white lines marked on the pitch that define where batters and bowlers must operate.
Off Side / Leg Side
The two halves of the field, split by an imaginary line through the pitch — which side is which depends on which way the batter is facing.
Striker / Non-Striker
The two batters at the crease — the striker faces the bowling, the non-striker waits at the other end.
Over
A set of six legal deliveries bowled from one end, after which a different bowler takes over from the other end.
Boundary
The rope marking the edge of the playing field — and the four or six runs scored when the ball reaches or crosses it.
Run Out
A dismissal where a batter fails to reach a crease before the fielding side breaks the stumps at that end.
Stumped
A dismissal where the wicketkeeper breaks the stumps while the batter is out of their crease, without a run being attempted.
Caught
A dismissal where a fielder catches the ball on the full after it comes off the bat, before it touches the ground.
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