Cricket's Idioms, Aphorisms, Names & Phrases

 A list of Cricket's idioms, aphorisms, phrases, metaphors, similes & other silliness.

A Michelle - a five wicket haul, as in "pfi-fer"
A road - an often flat wicket with a predictable bounce, good for batting
Afghan - Mark Waugh
Agricultural shot - see cow corner
All hands - Monde Zondeki
An Audi - Four ducks in a row
Arkle - see "Rags"
Audi - two pairs of spectacles
Badger - an enthusiastic follower of the game
Back in the hutch - the destination of batsmen who have lost their wickets
Big Bird - Joel Garner
Boot hill - short leg
Bunsen burner - a turning pitch, good for the spinners
Buzzers - overthrows
Carpet - the wicket
Chainsaw - see curtain rail
Cheese on bread - a fine shot
Chef - Alistair Cook
Chin music - fast, short-pitched bowling
Corridor of uncertainty - Boycott's in the room
Cow corner - area of the field where Guy the Gorilla scored a lot of runs
Creepy - John Crawley
Curtain rail - bat or hand being removed swiftly across the line of a sharply rising ball
Daddy - individual score over 150 runs
Deadly - Derek Underwood
Death rattle - the batman's been clean bowled
Dorothy - six runs
Double teapot - exasperated player with both hands on hips
Electric Heels - Learie Constantine
Ferret - a batsman so poor they are sent in after the rabbits - see rabbit pie
Fruit salad - an often unpredictable mix of bowling within a single over
Forty five - short backward square
Fresh cherry - a new ball
Furniture - see timber
Gardening - wicket maintenance performed by a batsman
Garry - Nathan Lyon
God [i] - Graham Hick, for a while, outside the Test arena
God [ii] - Sachin Tendulkar, within the Test arena
Goober - dropped a sitter
Guy the Gorilla - IT Botham
If it's in the arc, it's out of the park - hitting sixes, attrib. to David Miller

King of Spain - Ashley Giles

King pair - see spectacles

(Making them) Kiss the bird - see Smell the leather (AUS: The bird in this case being the Kookaburra emblem on the ball)

Maximum - 180 runs

Mental disintegration - a consequence of targeted chuntering

Military - medium paced bowling as provided by a trundler

Moodwank - Mark Wood

Mr Cricket - Michael Hussey

Nelson - 111 runs

Nine ten jack - the tail

Nose and toes - combination of chin music and yorkers

Not troubling the scorers - out for a duck

Omelette - circular area of rough outside off or leg, a target for spin bowling.  

Oswald - Brett Lee 

Pant's on fire - The Indian wicket-keeper is playing a blinder

Pearls - Gladstone Small

Picket fence - six singles off six balls

Pyjamas - kit worn in the short-form of the game

Pudding - see sticky dog

Rabbit pie - see nine ten jack

Rags - Derek Randall

Red-inker - carrying one's bat

Salmon - out

Sheet-anchor - a dogged blocker

Shelled - a dropped catch

Shirt Front - see a road

Showing the maker's name - playing with a straight bat

Six or sticks - the batsman is going for death or glory

Smell the leather - the batsman's perspective of chin music

Spectacles - out twice for a duck in one game

Stick of rhubarb - Boycott's still in the room

Sticky dog - a drying bunsen burner

Strangled - caught by the keeper down the leg side

Supercat - Clive Lloyd

The Big Show - Glenn Maxwell

The Cat - Phil Tufnell

The fielders are spectating, the spectators are fielding - Universe Boss' T20 batting

The finger - you're out, mate

The little master [1] - Sunil Gavaskar

The little master [2] - see God [ii]

The posh stuff - the good part of the pitch

The Burnley Express - James Anderson

The Judge - Robin Smith

The Rawalpindi Express - Shoaib Akhtar

The Turbanator - Harbhajan Singh

Through the gate - getting the ball to pass between the bat and the batsman's pads

Timber - see wicket

Tugga - Steve Waugh

Universe Boss - Chris Gayle

Village - play of indifferent sporting quality

Walking wicket - a player short of form

Westlife - Stuart Broad

Wheels - fast, as in bowling

Whispering Death - Michael Holding

Wicket - either the surface played on, or something batsmen defend and bowlers covet

Without a seatbelt - the batsman is unable to drive

Yips - unusual nervous complaint exhibited by left arm slow bowlers