10 cricket terms you have probably never heard of

The terms associated with the gentlemen’s game of cricket are quite extraordinary. Fielding positions like third man, long on, silly point, square leg are not only confusing but also funny. But there are a few terms that even the most ardent fan would probably turn his nose up at or have a quiet laugh about. Here are few of them:

1. Bosie

Abdul Qadir of Pakistan was one of the greatest leg spinners

The ‘Bosie’ or the ‘Bosey’ is another name for googly. It’s a type of delivery bowled by right arm leg spinners; a variation that turns into the right-hander and away from the left-hander.

Bosie is named in honour of its inventor, an English cricketer Bernard Bosanquet. The delivery is also known by the term wrong’un.

Pakistani cricketer Abdul Qadir in the 1980s was known to bowl the googly, or the bosie, very effectively.

Bunsen

A cricket pitch assisting slow bowlers is called Bunsen

‘Bunsen’ is a term used by commentators to describe a pitch assisting slow bowlers. These kinds of pitches are mostly found in the sub-continent where overseas batsmen find it difficult to adjust to the pace and bounce of the wicket.

Cow corner

Cow corner is a fielding position between long on and deep midwicket

‘Cow corner’ is an unconventional fielding position on a cricket field. It is the position more commonly found between the long-on and deep midwicket boundary. The funny term is considered to have originated from Dulwich College in England where a part of the field was near the livestock or the “cow corner”.

Gardening

Gardening in cricket

The cricket pitch often gets loosened by balls or studs of the players’ shoes during the course of the match. ‘Gardening’ is the act of the batsman repairing these indentations in the pitch with his bat.

Jaffa

A Jaffa is an unplayable delivery.

A ‘jaffa’ is practically a beautiful and unplayable delivery by a bowler, not necessarily by a fast bowler. It is also called ‘corker’. The origin of the term is said to come from a type of orange fruit called ‘jaffa’ which is very juicy. Hence, a juicy delivery.

In the recently concluded 3rd Ashes Test, Ryan Harris bowled an absolute ripper to Aliaster Cook, which you can watch here.

Here’s a jaffa bowled by South African fast bowler Allan Donald to Mike Atherton:

Fast Leg Theory

Bodyline bowling is also called Fast Leg Theory.

‘Fast Leg Theory’ is another name for the infamous ‘Bodyline’ bowling from the 1930s.

In 1930, English bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce developed a strategy where the bowlers would bowl fast, short-pitched balls that would rise into the batsman’s body, with close fielders on the leg side. The idea was to make the batsmen defend the deliveries aimed at the body which could result in a catch on the leg side.

A video showing the Bodyline bowling:

Mankad

Peter Kirsten ‘Mankaded’ by Kapil Dev

‘Mankad’ is a term used to describe a bowler running out a batsman who is “backing up” at the non-striker’s end. When the bowler enters his delivery stride, the non-striker tends to leave the popping crease in order to complete the run as soon as possible, assuming the batsman on the other end decides to take a run. During this, the bowler may attempt to ‘run-out’ the non striker.

This kind of dismissals is very rare in cricket and is usually regarded as unsporting behaviour.

The term ‘Mankad’ originated during the Indian tour of Australia in 1947, when Indian player Vinoo Mankad dismissed Australian player Bill Brown twice on the tour in the same fashion. Since that incident, a batsman dismissed in this fashion is informally said to have been “Mankaded”.

Only 7 batsmen have been given out in this fashion in international cricket. (Complete list here). The most recent dismissal came on December 9th 2013 when during a Ranji Trophy match Railways player Murali Kartik ‘mankaded’ Bengal batsman Sandipan Das.

Here’s an instance when Kapil Dev ‘mankaded’ Peter Kirsten:

Sandshoe crusher

Yorker is also called Sandhoe crusher.

‘Sandshoe crusher’ is another name for the ‘yorker’. Other colloquial terms for this kind of delivery are toe-crusher and nail-breaker. It is a fast paced delivery aimed at the toes of the batsman which makes it very difficult to defend or score runs off.

A video showing the best yorkers over the years:

Yips

Keith Medlycott developed Yips and had to abandon cricket

‘Yips’ is a mental condition when a player loses his basic skills because of some mental condition or trauma. In cricket, it is mostly bowlers who have tended to get affected by the yips. The rare condition results in a player abandoning the game early in his career.

The most recent example of this is Keith Medlycott, who was forced to abandon the game when he developed the yips. Gavin Hamilton is another player who is said to be suffering from this condition.

Zooter

Shane Warne is credited with the development of the Zooter

‘Zooter’ is a special variation by a leg-break bowler. It is another form of the flipper. Australian leg spinner Shane Warne is credited with the development of this kind of delivery. The flipper is a faster delivery that is squeezed out from the front of the palm with the thumb and first and second fingers.

The zooter also has a similar release but it lacks the backspin that is imparted on a flipper. The zooter has very little or no spin at all and the ball skids along the ground without much bounce and hurries on to the batsman.