Cricket: Laws and Terms

Laws

Number of ways of being out (includes Timed Out)		10
Runs scored if the ball hits a helmet or other piece of equipment on the field of play belonging to, but not being worn by, a member of the fielding side		5
Distance between the bowling crease and the popping crease		4 feet
Width of the pitch		10 feet (305 cm)
Overs before a second new ball can be taken in Tests (previously 85)		80
Minimum 1st innings lead to enforce a follow–on, in Tests		200

Weight of the ball		5½ to 5¾ ounces (155.9 to 163.0 g)
Circumference of the ball		8 13/16 to 9 in (224 to 229 mm)
Maximum width of the bat		4¼ inches (108 mm)
Maximum length of the bat (including the handle)		38 inches (965 mm)
Height of the stumps		28 inches (710 mm)
Width of the wicket		9 inches (230 mm)
Length of each bail		4 5⁄16 inches (10.95 cm)

Terms

Ball aimed (usually accidentally) at the batsman's head, without bouncing			Beamer
Tactic used by England in Australia 1932–3, developed by Douglas Jardine at Nottinghamshire with bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce – a development of leg theory, with faster, short–pitched deliveries; Jardine called it "fast leg theory"			Bodyline
A 'sack' is the Australian term for what's known everywhere else as a			Bye
Off–break bowled by a left–arm bowler			Chinaman
Invented by Saqlain Mushtaq, exploited to great effect by Muttiah Muralitharan; name is Urdu and Hindi for "the second one" or "the other one"			Doosra
Being out first ball			Golden duck
Known in Australia as a Bosie (after its inventor)			Googly
Given in the 19th century to a bowler who took three wickets with consecutive balls			Hat
Fruity term used for a practically unplayable delivery (also known as a 'corker')			Jaffa
Tactic of bowling at the leg stump (a forerunner of bodyline) – used successfully by Barnes and Foster for England in Australia, 1911–12			Leg theory
111 runs, for a side or a batsman – considered unlucky (especially in the English game), probably because it looks like the wicket with the bails removed			Nelson
Lower–order batsman who comes in following the fall of a wicket late in the day, rather than risking the wicket of a more capable batsman			Night watchman
Fielding side attempting to influence the umpires or undermine the batsmen's confidence			Sledging
Australian term for extras			Sundries
A left–handed shot played by a right–handed batter (or vice versa) – first executed by either Jonty Rhodes or Kevin Pietersen; see also baseball			Switch hit

Used to determine the result of rain–affected games in limited–overs cricket; named after its inventors (two English statisticians); first used in 1996–7, officially adopted by the ICC in 2001		Duckworth–Lewis method
Took over as custodian of the above (his name being added to its name) in November 2014, following the respective retirements of the inventors		Prof. Steven Stern

Fielding positions

Cricket fielding positions are best described with the aid of a diagram; but this website prefers to use words wherever possible. If the following descriptions leave you none the wiser, I recommend the BBC's guide (which does include diagrams).

If you're still none the wiser, my advice would be just to memorise the names of the positions and not to worry too much about the descriptions. You'll rarely be asked anything other than something like "In which sport might you stand at silly point?"

The side of the field on which the batsman holds his bat		Off side
The side of the field that the batsman's back side tends to point towards		Leg side

The leg side is less commonly referred to as the on side.

Behind the wicket, on the off side, only slightly further from the bat than the wicket–keeper

Slips

There may be several slips, standing so as to form an arc – typically three or four if a fast bowler is on, but on rare occasions there may be as many as five or six. The one nearest the wicket–keeper is first slip, the next is second slip, and so on. For a slow bowler there's rarely more than one slip – often none at all.

Behind the wicket, on the leg side, only slightly further from the bat than the wicket–keeper

Leg slip

Leg slip is much less commonly used than slip, and there's rarely more than one.

Wide of the slips, only slightly behind the wicket (between slips and point)

Gully

There may occasionally be two gullies.

Behind the wicket, on the off side, closer to the boundary (behind the slips – or where the slips would be (not often used if there are slips in place)		Third man
Behind the wicket, on the leg side, closer to the boundary		Fine leg
5 to 10 yards beyond the non–striker's wicket, on the off side – where the captain often fields, so that he's close to the bowler and can discuss tactics with him		Mid–off
Near the boundary, beyond the non–striker's wicket, on the off side		Long off

The equivalent positions on the leg side are called mid–on and long–on.

In front of the bat, on the off side, but close in (less than about 20 yards from the bat)		Silly mid–off
Square of the batting crease, on the off side		Point
Very close to the bat, on the off side, slightly forward of square		Silly point
Square of the batting crease, on the leg side		Square leg
Very close to the bat, on the leg side, slightly forward of square (opposite silly point)		Short leg
Between point and mid–off (i.e. on the off side, typically around 40 degrees in front of the bat) – covering the drive, and calling for good fielding skills		Cover
Between point and cover		Cover point
Between cover and mid–off		Extra cover
Between square leg and mid–on (i.e. on the leg side, typically around 40 degrees in front of the bat)		Mid–wicket

Some positions – most commonly third man, fine leg, square leg and extra cover – can be modified with "short" if they're closer to the bat than normal, or "deep" if they're closer to the boundary than normal. Similarly, positions that are more or less square of the wicket (most commonly point and square leg) can be "backward" or "forward", where forward is more towards the bowler's end and backward is further away from the bowler's end.

As will be obvious if you count the number of positions I've listed, not all of these can be used at the same time.

The collective placings of all nine fielders (not including the bowler and the wicket–keeper) is known as the field setting. There's no such thing as a standard field setting, but a typical one may be three slips, one gully, cover, mid–off, mid–wicket, square leg, and fine leg. Note that this is six fielders on the off side and only three on the leg.

Umpires' signals

One arm raised, with the index finger pointing upwards		Out
One arm waved from side to side, finishing across the chest		Four runs
Both arms raised above the head		Six runs
One arm raised horizontally (at shoulder height, sideways)		No ball
Both arms outstretched horizontally		Wide
One arm raised above the head		Bye
Raising one leg and tapping the knee		Leg bye
Raising the ball in one hand (showing it to the batsman)		New ball
Tapping the shoulder with the hand of the same arm		One run short
Crossing the wrists below the knee		Dead ball
Drawing a square in the air		TV replay
Bringing one arm across the chest and touching the opposite shoulder		Penalty runs
Pointing to his wristwatch (late in the day)		Last hour
Touching each shoulder with the opposite hand		Cancel the last call

© Haydn Thompson 2017–20