Friday, August 14, 2009

Cricket

Cover drive: A drive that is hit away from the batsman's body.

Drive: A hit executed by the batsman in which he swings the bat in a long arc and sends the ball in one of several possible directions.

Glide: A hit, which is executed like a drive but is angled to go behind the batsman on his off side.

Hook: A hit that is executed by the batsman swinging his bat around his body, and following up with a complete body turn, usually pivoting on one foot...works best on a pitch that is moving away from the batsman on his "leg" side.


Late cut: A hit that is executed by a batsman by deflecting the pitch in a slicing motion, just before it reaches the wicket keeper or catcher.


Leg glance A hit consisiting of a deflection around the batsman's legs, of a pitch past the wicket keeper and behind him.

Lofted drive: A drive where the ball is lofted (hit in the air) to clear infield or midfield positions.

Off drive: A drive, which is executed at about a 45-degree angle to the line of the wickets, on the batsman's off side

On drive: A drive, which is executed at about a 45-degree angle to the line of the wickets, on the batsman's on or leg side.

Pull: A hit executed by a batsman "pulling" an offside pitch around his body towards his other (i.e.on, or leg) side.

Square cut: A hit that looks like a slash across the body, used by batsman to hit the ball "square" to his batting position.

Sweep: A hit executed towards his leg or on side, by "sweeping" his bat around his body.

Yorker: An "overpitch" delivery which is thrown so far forward as to bounce right under the batsman's bat, and beat him.

Spin: A kind of pitch, usually delivered at slow speed, where fingers or/and wrist are used to impart spin to the ball to achieve "breaks"; so, spin bowler = a pitcher who uses spin.

Seamer: A faster pitch delivered with the seam straight, and which can "slide" in the air or "break" unexpectedly.

Overpitched delivery: A pitch, which is pitched so far forward that the batsman can reach the point where it bounced by a forward step.

Outswing: A pitch, which moves down and away from the batsman in the air.

Long hop or short pitch: A pitch that is bounced far away from the batsman ( at least 7 to 10 yards away) , so it reaches the batsman after a long hop, or bounce.

Off-break: A pitch, which, after bouncing, "breaks" into the batsman's body from his off side.

Leg break :a pitch that is thrown and breaks into a batsman's body off the bounce, from the batsman's "leg" side.

Inswing: A pitch that moves into a batsman in the air.

Googly: A pitch which is thrown with grip but reverse finger spin to look like a leg-break that should move across and away from the batsman, but actually moves in the opposite direction, i.e. into the batsman, like an off-break, after it bounces.

Good length, or good-length delivery: A pitch which bounces just outside the batsman's maximum forward reach (i.e. 3 to 5 yards from the wickets, depending upon batsman's height).... these pitches are the hardest for a batsman to hit, because he cannot decide whether to step forward anyway, or if he should step back and give himself the maximum distance from the "bounce", to see what the ball might be doing.

Full toss: A pitch that reaches the batsman without a bounce.

Cutter, leg- or off- A fast pitch where a slashing arm action rather than wrist or finger spin is used to get a slight break off the bounce.... depending on the direction of the break, it can be called a leg-cutter or off-cutter.

Chinaman: A left-hander's googly.i.e. A pitch that looks as if it could break into a right-handed batsman on the bounce but breaks away instead.

Bumper: A ball that is bounced high enough to hit a batsman's head or shoulders.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Field positions in CRICKET


Click on the image to enlarge.
There are only eleven men in addition to Umpires and batsmen on the field, but they can be placed in any of the positions.