Cricket for birds
Unbeknown to all but the most ardent follower of cricket, there are ten different ways for a batsman to be dismissed. Some of these are as common as seeing pigeons on Cornmarket, but others are as rare as a dodo. This week we will consider the first five:
1. Bowled
Possibly the most straightforward form of dismissal, this is where the batsman misses the ball and it hits the stumps. It does not matter if the ball hits the batsman’s bat or body.
Technically, the bails must be dislodged, and it is not unknown for the ball to hit the stumps gently enough for the bails to stay in place.
2. Caught
Another very common one, where the batsman hits the ball, and a fielder catches it before it bounces. Sometimes, the ball only “snicks” the bat, but this still counts as caught.
3. LBW
Standing for Leg Before Wicket, this is cricket’s equivalent of the offside rule • vague and impossible to understand.
If a ball hits the batsman on the leg (or any part of the body) and, in the umpire’s opinion, it was going to hit the stumps, he can be dismissed. The rule itself is often controversial, since it centres on the umpire’s decision, which is often wrong. Or so the batsman always says…
4. Run Out
Where the batsman runs, but does not get back into his crease before the fielding side hit the stumps with the ball. Sometimes a run-out is the other batsman’s fault.
Last season, I was joined at the crease by a player making his debut for our club. I ran him out first ball for a platinum duck. Understandably, he went mad. After the game, I realised he was supposed to be giving me a lift home. Not wanting to be stranded on the Wirral for the night, I grovelled enough to persuade him to take me home. If I’m honest, I don’t think I’d have been so generous...
5. Stumped
If the batsman steps out of his crease, and the wicketkeeper hits the stumps with the ball before he gets back, he is out stumped. This normally only happens when spinners are bowling, whereupon the ‘keeper stands closer to the wicket. Mark Ramprakash will tell you all about being stumped. Facing Australian spinner Shane Warne, he was subjected to taunts of “Go on, hit it, Ramps”. Finally, his patience exhausted, he charged down the track, took a wild swing...and missed.
He was stumped, and dropped from the England side.
4th May 2006