If you don't know the jargon, it's just not cricket
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THE recent successes of the Ireland cricket side have resulted in a massive surge in interest throughout the country. And along with the sport comes a whole new vocabulary. Here's a mini-guide to some of the key terms:
Century -- A batsman reaches his 'century' when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. It is generally recorded in a player's statistics. A maiden century refers to the first 100 runs by the player in the series.
Batsman -- A player who uses the bat to hit or guide the ball after it has been bowled to try to score runs during a match.
Test match -- A cricket match of international standards played over a period of up to five days. There are only 10 countries in the world permitted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to play Test cricket, including England, India, Australia and Pakistan. Ireland is not ranked among the 10 with full Test status, hence our best players often opt for England if they are good enough.
The Ashes -- The Test cricket bi-annual series that pits England against Australia and is considered the pinnacle of the sport. This year, England will be travelling down under in a bid to keep hold of the urn they won in 2009. The Ashes is deemed the oldest continuous international cricket fixture as it dates back to 1877. After England suffered a defeat on home ground in the 1880s, it was mentioned that English cricket was 'in ashes', which led to the urn being presented.
- Louise Hogan
Irish Independent
