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One-day Dictionary
One-day Dictionary by Roderick Easdale
ONE-DAY cricket was promulgated because it was a version of
cricket which appealed to people without necessarily much in-
terest in or knowledge of cricket . Therefore it was popular with
cricket administrators and Kerry Packer. It also brought a whole
new cricketing vocabulary, which - to coin a cliche - moves with
the times. For those who haven't moved with the times with suffi-
cient speed, some of the more common one-day terms are explained
below.
Bad Light:what gamest tend to finish in, when it is probably
twice as dark as it was when the batsman went off for bad light
in the middle of the afternoon session.
Bits and Pieces Player: cricketer who is only average at more
things than the average player.
Bowler's Limitation: maximum number of overs a bowler is allowed
to bowl, which they usually exceed by bowling no-balls.
Bowler Tossing The Ball Up: bowler celebrating a caught and
bowled.
Bowling Attack: a series of bowlers who defend.
Building A Platform For The Innings: method by which batsmen bat
very slowly leaving the tail to bat very quickly to ensure a de-
cent total.
Coloured Clothing: what players wear in the hope that spectators
will wear it too; also a useful way for the crowd to tell the
difference between the batsmen and the bowlers .
Day/Night Match: one-day game played under contemporary over-
rates.
Death: part of the innings in which the participants are the most
active.
Dismissal of Batsman: bowler's attempt at a dot ball which didn't
go quite to plan.
Fielding Circle: lot of dots which, if joined up, would not make
a circle.
Fielding Restrictions: way of making captains put fielders where
they don't want them.
Full Toss: yorker which has got above itself.
Gillette: company who decided to sponsor a one-day cricket com-
petition to make people realise that they made razor blades.
Everyone then realised that Gillette was something to do with
cricket. Therefore the company decided not to sponsor a one-day
cricket competition to make people realise that they made razor
blades.
Leg-Break and Googly Bowler: 12th man.
Maiden Over: every bowler's aim.
Man Of The Match Adjudicator: normally a famous ex-bowler or
batsman; which of these he is can often be determined by whether
he gave the award to a batsman or a bowler.
Man Of The Match Award: (1) conversation piece, especially when
the match is a foregone conclusion; (2) monetary award almost al-
ways given to a member of winning side. Adjudicator decides which
player to give it to, and this player then shares the money
equally amongst his team mates.
Move With The Times: meaningless cliche identifying speaker as a
marketing man.
One-Day Shot: heave across line unlikely to make contact with
ball, thereby scoring no runs and making batsman liable to be
bowled; played by batsmen in the belief that this helps them to
score runs quickly.
One-Day Wide: at beginning of innings same as any other wide, at
end of innings any ball which goes down leg side.
Opening Batsman: most likely winner of Man of the Match Award.
Outside The Circle: on the boundary.
Reduced Target: (1) way of achieving statistical equality and
practical inequality; (2) (in Australia) target rarely reduced,
merely number of overs to get it in.
Running Ball Down To Third Man: way to make batting harder by us-
ing less of bat's face.
Run-Rate Required: something batsmen early in innings increase
leaving their bowlers later in the innings to decrease.
Short Third Man and Short Fine Leg: positions where fielders are
unlikely to stop a ball unless going straight at them - unlike
regular third man and fine leg positions - thereby conceding more
runs than are saved by having mid-off and mid-on on boundary in
the event of batsmen hitting the quick bowlers back over their
heads.
Slower Ball: delivery bowled to surprise batsman in final overs
of an innings; originally the surprise was when a slower delivery
was bowled, now it is when a slower delivery is not bowled.
Spinner: medium pacer with a shorter than usual run-up.
Stonewaller: a very senior player and/ or captain' s best friend.
Slip: what happens to a fielder without spikes on wet grass.
Sweeper: term borrowed from Association Football, so as to make
football fans - who watch one-day cricket in the three days a
year when there is no football so as to allow for footballers'
pre-season training - feel welcome.
Tea Interval: moveable feast.
Thoreau: he who said 'beware of all enterprises that require new
clothes' .
Treble Wicket Maiden: every bowler's fantasy.
Trundler: bowler bowling at this end and/or bowler bowling at the
other end.
World Cup Final: international one-dav competition which many
countries compete over many years to host, and which two coun-
tries compete over part of a day to win.
Wicket-keeper: batsman who keeps his pads on when fielding.
Yorkshire: county who managed to finish top of the 40-over league
competition in the same season as they finished bottom of the
County Championship: the only time they have achieved either po-
sition.
Contributed by Cric8wala (sidiyus@*105.112.45)
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