Cricket · Guide
Cricket terms explained
From a golden duck to a nightwatchman: the words you hear on the radio, in plain English.
Batting
- Century / fifty
- 100 or 50 runs by one batter in an innings.
- Duck
- Out for nought. A golden duck is out first ball.
- Not out
- Still batting when the innings ends.
- Opener
- One of the two batters who start the innings.
- Tail / tail-ender
- The last few batters, usually the bowlers.
- Nightwatchman
- A lower-order batter sent in late in the day to protect a better one.
- Declaration
- The captain ends their side's innings early, in a Test.
Bowling
- Maiden
- An over with no runs off the bat.
- Hat-trick
- Wickets with three balls in a row.
- Five-for
- Five wickets in an innings.
- Yorker
- A full ball aimed at the batter's toes, landing right at the crease.
- Bouncer
- A short ball that rises towards the batter's head.
- Swing / seam
- Swing is the ball curving in the air; seam is it moving off the pitch after bouncing on the seam.
- Googly
- A leg-spinner's ball that turns the opposite way to the one the batter expects.
Match and rules
- Innings
- A team's turn to bat. Always "innings", even for one.
- Powerplay
- Overs with fielding restrictions in white-ball cricket.
- Follow-on
- Making a side that is far behind bat again straight away. See how long is a Test.
- DRS
- The Decision Review System for challenging an umpire's call. See LBW explained.
- Extras
- Runs not scored off the bat. See wides and no-balls.
- Dead rubber
- A match in a series that is already decided.
Quick answers
- What is a duck in cricket?
- Being out for nought. A golden duck is out first ball.
- What is a maiden over?
- An over in which no runs are scored off the bat.
- What is a hat-trick in cricket?
- A bowler taking wickets with three consecutive deliveries.
- What is a nightwatchman?
- A lower-order batter sent in near the end of a day's play to protect a better batter from getting out cheaply in fading light.