County cricket
Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship competitions played at different levels: the County Championship, a first-class competition which involves eighteen first-class county clubs among which seventeen are English and one is from Wales. County cricket started in the eighteenth century, the earliest known inter-county match being played in 1709, though an official County Championship was not instituted until 1890. Having been badly hit by the Seven Years' War, county cricket ceased altogether during the Napoleonic Wars and there was a period from 1797 to 1824 during which no inter-county matches took place. Inter-county cricket was popular throughout the 18th century, although the best team, such as Kent in the 1740s or Hampshire in the days of the famous Hambledon Club, was acknowledged as such by being matched against All-England.
The most successful county teams were Hampshire, Middlesex and Sussex. There was, however a crossover between town and county with some strong local clubs tending at times to represent a whole county. Examples are London, which played against county teams and was in some respects a county club in itself. One of the best county teams in the late 18th century was Berkshire, which no longer has first-class status. All matches prior to 1988 were scheduled for three days of a nominal six hours each plus intervals, but with the first two days lengthened by up to an hour and the final day shortened, so that teams with fixtures elsewhere on the following day could travel at sensible hours; the exception to this was the 1919 season, when there was an experiment with two-day matches played over longer hours, up to nine o'clock in the evening in mid-summer. This experiment was not repeated. From 1988 to 1992 some matches were played over four days. From 1993 onward, all matches have been scheduled for four days.
The eighteen first-class counties are the top league cricket teams. They include one Welsh county, Glamorgan; the English first-class counties are: The full name of the cricket team is formed from the name of the county followed by the words County Cricket Club, which are abbreviated as CCC. The opening first-class game of an English county cricket season has traditionally been played at Lord's between the MCC and the Champion County; when the Marylebone Cricket Club plays against one of the first-class counties, the game is granted first-class status. The six MCC-sponsored University teams, are afforded first-class status for some of their matches against a first-class county, they are: Cambridge MCCU Oxford MCCU Durham MCCU Loughborough MCCU Cardiff MCCU Leeds/Bradford MCCU Most of the first-class counties play three-day games against university cricket teams in the early part of the English cricket season. This is because the start of the cricket season coincides with the end of the university academic year, because the games act as pre-season warm-ups for the county clubs.
The minor counties are the cricketing counties of England. Present members are: Eastern Division Bedfordshire County Cricket Club Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club Cumberland County Cricket Club Hertfordshire County Cricket Club Lincolnshire County Cricket Club Norfolk County Cricket Club Northumberland County Cricket Club Staffordshire County Cricket Club Suffolk County Cricket ClubWestern Division Berkshire County Cricket Club Cheshire County Cricket Club Cornwall County Cricket Club Devon County Cricket Club Dorset County Cricket Club Herefordshire County Cricket Club Oxfordshire County Cricket Club Shropshire County Cricket Club Wales Minor Counties Cricket Club Wiltshire County Cricket Club Some teams outside of the English counties have been allowed to take part in some English county cricket one-day competitions, they include: Ireland Netherlands Scotland Denmark Unicorns An important year was 1873, when player qualification rules came into force, requiring players to choose at the start of each season whether they would play for the county of their birth or their county of residence.
Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for both counties during the course of a single season. Three meetings were held, at the last of these, held at The Oval on 9 June 1873, the following rules were decided on: That no cricketer, whether amateur or professional, shall play for more than one county during the same season; every cricketer born in one county and residing in another shall be free to choose at the commencement of each season for which of those counties he will play, shall, during that season, play for the one county only. A cricketer shall be qualified to play for the county in which he is residing and has resided for the previous two years: or a cricketer may elect to play for the county in which his family home is, so long as it remains open to him as an occasional residence; that should any question arise as to the residential qualification, the same shall be left to the decision of the Marylebone Cricket Club
England cricket team
The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, having been governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end of 1996. England, as a founding nation, is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International status; until the 1990s, Scottish and Irish players played for England as those countries were not yet ICC members in their own right. England and Australia were the first teams to play a Test match, these two countries together with South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference on 15 June 1909. England and Australia played the first ODI on 5 January 1971. England's first T20I was played on 13 June 2005, once more against Australia; as of 12 March 2019, England has played 1010 Test matches, winning 365 and losing 300. The team has won The Ashes on 32 occasions. England has played 726 ODIs, winning 362, its record in major ODI tournaments includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups, in two ICC Champions Trophys.
England has played 108 T20Is, winning 53. They won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, were runners-up in 2016; as of 12 March 2019, England are ranked fifth in Tests, first in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. Though the team and coaching staff faced heavy criticism after their Group Stage exit in the 2015 Cricket World Cup, it has since adopted a more aggressive and modern playing style in ODI cricket, under the leadership of captain Eoin Morgan and head coach Trevor Bayliss; the first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team, which consisted of 11 gentlemen from any part of England exclusive of Kent, played against "the Unconquerable County" of Kent and lost by a margin of "very few notches". Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century. In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven; this team competed against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1847 and 1856.
These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season if judged by the quality of the players. The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England touring North America; this team had six players from the All-England Eleven, six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned elsewhere. English tourists visited Australia in 1861–62 with this first tour organised as a commercial venture by Messrs Spiers and Pond, restaurateurs of Melbourne. Most matches played during tours prior to 1877 were "against odds", with the opposing team fielding more than 11 players to make for a more contest; this first Australian tour were against odds of at least 18/11. The tour was so successful that George Parr led a second tour in 1863–64. James Lillywhite led a subsequent England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876, they played a combined Australian XI, for once on terms of 11 a side.
The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the inaugural Test match. The combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time, the match was promoted as James Lillywhite's XI v Combined Victoria and New South Wales; the teams played a return match on the same ground at Easter, 1877, when Lillywhite's team avenged their loss with a victory by four wickets. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England victorious. G. Grace included in the team. England lost their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with The Sporting Times printing an obituary on English cricket: In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R. I. P. N. B. – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes".
England with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1. Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or a woman's veil and so The Ashes was born. A fourth match was played which Australia won by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series. England dominated many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884 and 1898. During this period England played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth. England won the 1890 Ashes Series 2–0, with the third match of the series being the first Test match to be abandoned. England lost 2 -- 1 in the 1891 -- 92 series. England again won the 1894 -- 95 series. In 1895 -- 96 England played Test South Africa; the 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. There were three active players: Lord Hawke, W. G. Grace and Herbert Bainbridge, the captain of Warwickshire.
Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played. England lost the 1899 Ashes series 1–0, with WG Grace making his final Test appearance in the first match of the series; the start of the
Stumped
Stumped is a method of dismissal in cricket. The action of stumping can only be performed by a wicket-keeper and, according to the Laws of Cricket, a batsman can be given out stumped if: the wicket-keeper puts down the wicket, while the batsman is: out of his ground. Being "out of his ground" is defined as not having any part of the batsman's body or his bat touching the ground behind the crease – i.e. if his bat is elevated from the floor despite being behind the crease, or if his foot is on the crease line itself but not across it and touching the ground behind it he would be considered out. One of the fielding team must appeal for the wicket by asking the umpire; the appeal is directed to the square-leg umpire, who would be in the best position to adjudicate on the appeal. Stumping is the fifth most common form of dismissal after caught, leg before wicket and run out, though it is seen more in Twenty20 cricket because of its more aggressive batting, it is governed by Law 39 of the Laws of Cricket.
It is seen with a medium or slow bowler, as with fast bowlers a wicket-keeper takes the ball too far back from the wicket to attempt a stumping. It includes co-operation between a bowler and wicket-keeper: the bowler draws the batsman out of his ground, the wicket-keeper catches and breaks the wicket before the batsman realises he has missed the ball and makes his ground, i.e. places the bat or part of his body on the ground back behind the popping crease. If the bails are removed before the wicket-keeper has the ball, the batsman can still be stumped if the wicket-keeper removes one of the stumps from the ground, while holding the ball in his hand; the bowler is credited for the batsman's wicket, the wicket-keeper is credited for the dismissal. A batsman may be out stumped off a wide delivery but cannot be stumped off a no-ball as bowler is credited for the wicket. Notes: The popping crease is defined as the back edge of the crease marking (i.e. the edge closer to the wicket. Therefore, a batsman whose bat or foot is on the crease marking, but does not touch the ground behind the crease marking, can be stumped.
This is quite common. The wicket must be properly put down in accordance with Law 28 of the Laws of cricket: using either the ball itself or a hand or arm, in possession of the ball. Note that since the ball itself can put down the wicket, a stumping is still valid if the ball rebounds from the'keeper and breaks the wicket though never controlled by him; the wicket-keeper must allow the ball to pass the stumps before taking it, unless it has touched either the batsman or his bat first. If the wicket-keeper fails to do this, the delivery is a "no-ball", the batsman cannot be stumped
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and be ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards; the role of the keeper is governed by Law 27 of the Laws of Cricket. During the bowling of the ball the wicket-keeper crouches in a full squatting position but stands up as the ball is received. Australian wicket-keeper Sammy Carter was the first to squat on his haunches rather than bend over from the waist; the keeper's major function is to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, but he can attempt to dismiss the batsman in various ways: The most common dismissal effected by the keeper is for him to catch a ball that has nicked the batsman's bat, called an edge, before it bounces. Sometimes the keeper is in the best position to catch a ball, hit high in the air.
More catches are taken by wicket-keepers than by any other fielding position. The keeper can stump the batsman by using the ball to remove the bails from the stumps, if the batsman is out of his crease after a delivery has passed the stumps into the keeper's hands; the keeper must dislodge the bail and the batsman is out if he is still outside the crease. When the ball is hit into the outfield, the keeper moves close to the stumps to catch the return throw from a fielder and, if possible, to run out a batsman. A keeper's position depends on the bowler: for fast bowling he will squat some distance from the stumps, in order to have time to react to edges from the batsman, while for slower bowling, he will come much nearer to the stumps, to pressure the batsman into remaining within the crease or risk being stumped; the more skilled the keeper, the faster the bowling to which he is able to "stand up", for instance Godfrey Evans stood up to Alec Bedser. Like the other players on a cricket team, keepers will bat during the team’s batting innings.
At elite levels, wicket-keepers are expected to be proficient batters, averaging more than specialist bowlers. See Wicket-keeper-batsman. Law 27.2, which deals with the specifications for wicketkeepers' gloves, states that: If... the wicket-keeper wears gloves, they shall have no webbing between the fingers except joining index finger and thumb, where webbing may be inserted as a means of support. If used, the webbing shall be a single piece of non-stretch material which, although it may have facing material attached, shall have no reinforcements or tucks; the top edge of the webbing shall not protrude beyond the straight line joining the top of the index finger to the top of the thumb and shall be taut when a hand wearing the glove has the thumb extended. Substitutes were not allowed to keep wicket, but this restriction was lifted in the 2017 edition of the Laws of Cricket; this rule was sometimes suspended, by agreement with the captain of the batting side. For example, during the England–New Zealand Test Match at Lord's in 1986, England's specialist keeper, Bruce French was injured during England's first innings.
England used 4 keepers in New Zealand's first innings: Bill Athey kept for the first two overs. Arthur Jones was the first substitute to keep wicket in a Test match, when he did so against Australia at The Oval in 1905. There is no rule stating. On 5 June 2015 during a T20 Blast game between the Worcestershire Rapids and the Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Worcestershire chose not to play a wicket-keeper in the 16th over of the match, their keeper, Ben Cox, became an extra fielder at fly slip. The umpires consulted with each other and agreed that there was nothing in the rules to prevent it from happening; the following are the top 10 wicket-keepers by total dismissals in Test cricket. The following are the top 10 wicket-keepers by total dismissals in one day cricket; the following are the top 10 wicket-keepers by total dismissals in Twenty20 International cricket. Catcher Glossary of cricket terms Wicket-keeper's gloves Surya Prakash Chaturvedi, Bharat ke Wicket Keepers, National Book Trust, 2011
Black armband protest
The black armband protest was made by Zimbabwean cricketers Andy Flower and Henry Olonga during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. The pair decided to wear black armbands to "mourn the death of democracy in Zimbabwe"; the protest received condemnation from senior Zimbabwean political figures, some senior Zimbabwean cricket figures, but was praised by the international media. The International Cricket Council deemed that Flower and Olonga had taken a political action, but refused to charge the pair with an offence, their initial protest was during Zimbabwe's first match of the tournament in Harare, the pair wore armbands to protest at all of the matches. As a result of the protest and Olonga were forced to leave Zimbabwe, both men settled in the United Kingdom; the 2003 Cricket World Cup was awarded to South Africa, however they decided to award six of the group stage matches to Zimbabwe, two to Kenya. Due to security concerns in Zimbabwe, the British and Australian governments both advised their players against travelling to Zimbabwe.
In the end, England forfeited their match, whilst Australia won their match. The idea of a protest was started when Andy Flower was taken by a friend, Nigel Huff, to see a farm impacted by the government's land reforms. In 2000, Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwean government had begun a plan of land reforms for redistribution of 3,000 farms, began compulsorily seizing land from white farmers, with forced evictions and arrests on the basis of "illegally occupying their land". By 2002, it was estimated that around 80% of the 4,500 farms, white-owned had been forcibly seized. Another related issue was human rights abuses and violence against political opponents in the leadup to the 2002 Zimbabwe presidential election; the EU had imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's ruling elite. Flower was appalled by the torture of Zimbabwean MP Job Sikhala. After Flower had decided to protest, he decided that he wanted Olonga to partner him in the protest, as "one white Zimbabwean and one black one operating together gave the message the most eloquent balance."
Olonga was the first black, the youngest cricketer to play for Zimbabwe. They met up in a news café in Harare to plan the protest considering withdrawing from the World Cup, but deciding to protest instead; the pair spoke with a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change. Coltart suggested wearing black armbands, helped word the statement in a non-incriminating way; the match in question was between Zimbabwe and Namibia on 10 March 2003. The match was being played at the Harare Sports Club, was the first World Cup match hosted in Zimbabwe. Prior to the protest, the only other Zimbabwean player who knew about the protest was Andy's brother Grant. In the end, the pair did not have any black armbands, so used black insulating tape instead. Shortly before the match, they delivered their 450-word statement to the press; the statement became known as "mourning the death of democracy in Zimbabwe": In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup.
In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may help to restore dignity to our nation. In the match, Zimbabwe batted first, the public at the ground were not aware of the protest until the 22nd over, when Flower came out to bat wearing a black armband. Olonga was seen wearing a black armband on the Zimbabwe team balcony; the crowd of 4,000 at the ground were supportive of the protest, a number of them made their own black armbands during the match. In the match itself, Flower scored 39, as Zimbabwe reached 340/2, Olonga took 0/8 in 3 overs, as Zimbabwe won a rain-affected match by 86 runs. After the match, one man was arrested for wearing a black armband. During Zimbabwe's next group stage match against India, nearly 200 spectators wore black armbands, to support the protest. Inside Zimbabwe, the reaction was hostile to the players.
Zimbabwe's Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo, called Olonga an "Uncle Tom" who had "a black skin and a white mask". Zanu PF information secretary Nathan Shamuyarira claimed they were forced into it by the British media, "No true Zimbabwean would have joined in," but "Olonga is not a Zimbabwean, he is a Zambian". Olonga was charged with an offence punishable by death. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai released a statement in support of the protest, he was charged with treason, although the charge was dropped. Givemore Makoni, the President of Takashinga Cricket Club where Olonga played said "It is disgraceful what Henry Olonga and Andy Flower have done. Taking politics on to the playing field is a thing the International Cricket Council and all sports organisations have been trying to avoid," and that "by taking politics on to the field and bringing the game into disrepute Henry appears to have breached Takashinga's code of conduct". Olonga was suspended and sacked by Takashinga Cricket Club. Stephen Mandongo, the President of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union condemned the protest, saying "What Flower and Olonga did is wrong.
They have jeopardised our reputation when given this once in a lifetime chance to host the World Cup... It would be wrong if they wore black armbands again." They referred the matter to the International Cricket Council, who deemed that they had taken a political action, but refused to charge them with a formal offence. Instead, they released a statement reiterating the apolitical nature of the organisation, and
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board, the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the International Cricket Council. Lord's is referred to as the Home of Cricket and is home to the world's oldest sporting museum. Lord's today is not on its original site, being the third of three grounds that Lord established between 1787 and 1814, his first ground, now referred to as Lord's Old Ground, was. His second ground, Lord's Middle Ground, was used from 1811 to 1813 before being abandoned to make way for the construction through its outfield of the Regent's Canal; the present Lord's ground is about 250 yards north-west of the site of the Middle Ground. The ground can hold 28,000 spectators. Proposals are being developed to increase amenity; as of December 2013, it was proposed to redevelop the ground at a cost of around £200 million over a 14-year period.
The current ground celebrated its two hundredth anniversary in 2014. To mark the occasion, on 5 July an MCC XI captained by Sachin Tendulkar played a Rest of the World XI led by Shane Warne in a 50 overs match. Acting on behalf of the White Conduit Club and backed against any losses by George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea and Colonel Charles Lennox, Thomas Lord opened his first ground in May 1787 on the site where Dorset Square now stands; the White Conduit moved there from Islington soon afterwards and reconstituted themselves as Marylebone Cricket Club. In 1811, feeling obliged to relocate because of a rise in rent, Lord removed his turf and relaid it at his second ground; this was short-lived. The "Middle Ground" was on the estate of the Eyre family; the new ground, on the present site, was opened in the 1814 season. The earliest known match was MCC v Hertfordshire on 22 June 1814; this is not rated a first-class match. MCC won by 27 runs; the next match known to have been played at Lord's, from 13 to 15 July 1814, was the earliest first-class one, between MCC and the neighbouring St John's Wood club, which had several guest players for the occasion, including five leading professionals.
MCC won by 4 wickets. The annual Eton v Harrow match was first played on the Old Ground in 1805. There is no record of the fixture being played again until 29 July 1818, when it was held at the present Lord's ground for the first time. From 1822, the fixture has been an annual event at Lord's; as of January 2015, the stands at Lord's are: Pavilion Warner Stand Grandstand Compton Stand Media Centre Edrich Stand Mound Stand Tavern Stand Allen StandMany of the stands were rebuilt in the late 20th century. In 1987 the new Mound Stand, designed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, was opened, followed by the Grandstand in 1996. Most notably, the Media Centre was added in 1998-9; the ground can hold up to 28,000 spectators. The two ends of the pitch are the Pavilion End, where the main members' pavilion is located, the Nursery End, dominated by the Media Centre; the main survivor from the Victorian era is the Pavilion, with its famous Long Room. This historic landmark— a Grade II*-listed building— underwent an £8 million refurbishment programme in 2004–05.
The pavilion is for members of MCC, who may use its amenities, which include seats for viewing the cricket, the Long Room and its Bar, the Bowlers Bar, a members' shop. At Middlesex matches the Pavilion is open to members of the Middlesex County Club; the Pavilion contains the dressing rooms where players change, each of which has a small balcony for players to watch the play. In each of the two main dressing rooms are honours boards which commemorate all the centuries scored in Test matches or One Day Internationals at Lord's, all instances of a bowler taking five wickets in a Test or ODI innings and all occurrences of a bowler taking ten wickets in a Test match; the only cricketer to hit a ball over the pavilion was Albert Trott, off Monty Noble on 31 July 1899. Another visible feature of the ground is Old Father Time, a weather vane in the shape of Father Time adorning a stand on the south-east side of the field; the Media Centre was commissioned in time for the 1999 Cricket World Cup, was the first all-aluminium, semi-monocoque building in the world.
It was fitted out in two boatyards, using boat-building technology. The centre stands 15 metres above the ground and its sole support comes from the structure around its two lift shafts— it is about the same height as the Pavilion directly opposite it on the other side of the ground; the lower tier of the centre provides accommodation for over 100 journalists, the top tier has radio and television commentary boxes. The centre's only opening window is in the broadcasting box used by BBC Test Match Special; the building was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in 1999. The Lord's Taverners, a charitable group comprising cricketers and cricket-lovers, take their name from the old Tavern pub at Lord's, where the organisation's founders used to congregate; the pub no longer exists, the Tavern Stand now stands on its former site. However, a new pub of the same name is open in the grounds, as well as the Members Bar, in the Pavilion. One
Batting (cricket)
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs or prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player, batting is denoted as a batsman, batswoman, or batter, regardless of whether batting is their particular area of expertise. Batsmen have to adapt to various conditions when playing on different cricket pitches in different countries - therefore, as well as having outstanding physical batting skills, top-level batsmen will have lightning reflexes, excellent decision-making and be good strategists. During an innings two members of the batting side are on the pitch at any time: the one facing the current delivery from the bowler is denoted the striker, while the other is the non-striker; when a batsman is out, they are replaced by a teammate. This continues until the end of the innings, when 10 of the team members are out, where upon the other team gets a turn to bat. Batting tactics and strategy vary depending on the type of match being played as well as the current state of play.
The main concerns for the batsmen are not to lose their wicket and to score as many runs as as possible. These objectives conflict – to score risky shots must be played, increasing the chance that the batsman will be dismissed, while the batsman's safest choice with a careful wicket-guarding stroke may be not to attempt any runs at all. Depending on the situation, batsmen may forget attempts at run-scoring in an effort to preserve their wicket, or may attempt to score runs as as possible with scant concern for the possibility of being dismissed; as with all other cricket statistics, batting statistics and records are given much attention and provide a measure of a player's effectiveness. The main statistic for batting is a player's batting average; this is calculated by dividing the number of runs he has scored, not by the innings he has played, but by the number of times he has been dismissed. Sir Donald Bradman set many batting records, some as far back as the 1930s and still unbeaten, he is regarded as the greatest batsman of all time.
Any player, regardless of their area of special skill, is referred to as a batsman while they are batting. However, a player, in the team principally because of their batting skill is referred to as a specialist batsman, or batsman, regardless of whether they are batting. In women's cricket, the term bats woman is sometimes encountered, as is batter, but'batsman' is used in both men's and women's cricket; the batsman's act of hitting the ball is called a stroke. Over time a standard batting technique has been developed, used by most batsmen. Technique refers to the batsman's stance before the ball is bowled as well as the movement of the hands, feet and body in the execution of a cricket stroke. Good technique is characterized by getting into the correct position to play the shot getting one's head and body in line with the ball, one's feet placed next to where the ball would bounce and swinging the bat at the ball to make contact at the precise moment required for the particular stroke being played.
The movement of the batsman for a particular delivery depends on the shot being attempted. Front-foot shots are played with the weight on the front foot and are played when the ball is pitched up to the batsman, while back-foot shots are played putting the weight onto the back foot to bowling, pitched short. Shots may be described as vertical bat shots, in which the bat is swung vertically at the ball, or horizontal or cross-bat shots, in which the bat is swung horizontally at the ball. While a batsman is not limited in where or how he may hit the ball, the development of good technique has gone hand in hand with the development of a standard or orthodox cricket shots played to specific types of deliveries; these "textbook" shots are standard material found in many coaching manuals. The advent of limited overs cricket, with its emphasis on rapid run-scoring, has led to increasing use of unorthodox shots to hit the ball into gaps where there are no fielders. Unorthodox shots are typical – but not always – more high-risk than orthodox shots due to some aspects of good batting technique being abandoned.
The stance is the position. An ideal stance is "comfortable and balanced", with the feet 40 centimetres apart and astride the crease. Additionally, the front shoulder should be pointing down the wicket, the head facing the bowler, the weight balanced and the bat near the back toe; as the ball is about to be released, the batsman will lift his bat up behind in anticipation of playing a stroke and will shift his weight onto the balls of his feet. By doing this he is ready to move swiftly into position to address the ball once he sees its path out of the bowler's hand. Although this textbook, the side-on stance is the most common, a few international batsmen, such as Shivnarine Chanderpaul, use an "open" or "square on" stance; the term used to describe. While the bat should be raised as vertically as possible, coaching manuals suggest that correct technique is for the bat to be angled from the perpendicular; some players have employed an exaggerated backlift. Others, who have employed the more unorthodox open stanc
