Message Board - Cricket: Cricket terminology
6 Oct 2009 by Pitchcare Peter
I have a question for all you cricket groundsman.
What would you say the correct terminology is for areas of a cricket square?
Assuming a square has 12 'tracks' is that the correct term or should they be referred to as 'strips' or 'pitches'?
Also, is it only the strip/track that is being played on that is referred to as a 'wicket'?
I'm stumped 
so would appreciate your views as I've heard all used before ... and used most of them myself at various times.
Thanks
Peter
6 Oct 2009 by tonybolton Last edited 6 Oct 2009
Peter, It certainly varies from area to area and even club to club, the square normally constitutes a number of playing areas, which individually are referred to as pitches, strips, tracks, wickets, however the square may also be called the table and wickets are also the stumps, players go out when they're in and in when they're out all very confusing and it gets even 'sillier.' An 'over' isn't over until at least six balls have been bowled unless of course it's the Umpires nightmare a five ball over which would consist of only five 'deliveries'. A 'wide' doesn't have to be wide it can be high but is still a wide. A player fielding in the 'slips' is expected to catch, 'fine' and 'long leg' have nothing to do with a player's physical attributes. 'Cow corner' has no agricultural meaning and 'Silly mid off' can in fact be quite serious, 'gully' and sometimes 'deep gully' are often present on the flatest of outfields, 'short leg' may be six foot six, it just goes on and on!! ASK A SILLY QUESTION
A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother
6 Oct 2009 by olaf
The square is the bit in the middle of the field that contains all the individual pitches/wickets/decks/tracks/strips, call them what you will.
I suppose "pitches" is the correct terminology as you pitch the wickets at each end of them, three bits of wood named after a wicket gate I believe.
With all the various terminology used this thread is probanly going to lead to more confusion than clarity though.
Some people are like Slinky's, totally useless but amusing if you push them down the stairs
6 Oct 2009 by Chris Thornton
There should be no confusion because the wickets are positioned 22 yds apart on a Cricket Pitch.
The area on which the pitches are,is called a Cricket Table.
A cricket table can never be square as the pitches are supposed to be 10 ft wide and 66 ft long.
The use of the word "wicket" when referring to a pitch really does give me the s.....s!!
Remarks such as "The ball pitched half way down the wicket" and "There was a puff of dust off the wicket, where the ball pitched" are ludicrous and confusing to a non cricketer and annoying to a pedantic old t...t like me!
So there you have it Peter, Cricket Pitch on a Cricket Table in the middle of the Cricket Outfield. Simples.
Chris
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
6 Oct 2009 by mackay
Does the outfield constitute part of the pitch then? - I would say so.
..what about 'the deck'?
For me I like all of the terms above but am less comfortable with 'Cricket Table' than 'square', but this is preferable to the Southern Hemesphere epithet: 'Block'.
Do we have better things to worry about?
6 Oct 2009 by Pitchcare Peter Last edited 6 Oct 2009
Thanks Guys, I appreciate your input, even if it hasn't resolved anything 
I was just asking because I had received an article that used a mix of descriptions for the strip/track/wicket.
So, (sorry Chris) I went with 'strip' as it seemed correct in the context of the article.
Thanks again.
Peter
6 Oct 2009 by barry glynn
peter
Call it what you like, everyone else does
Ive heard some players call them "a pile of s**t", especially when they ve got a duck!
What do I do? I just cut the grass.
6 Oct 2009 by mario
On the other hand I've heard players, particularly after having had a good day, want to "roll the pitch up and take it home".
How does that work then?
I know no boundaries.
6 Oct 2009 by roon
I think that the Laws of cricket refer only to the "Ground" being the area within the boundary and the "Pitch" being the 22 yard by 10 feet area. I don't think that they have any other references to a specific area.
The normal reference to the "square" is simply a commonly understood reference to an area that is where the pitches are.
6 Oct 2009 by Grassman2011
And i refuse to take part Peter. You live far to close.
6 Oct 2009 by Nifty
Terminology , it does your head in , ever tried to sort out a shovel type on the phone - West Country , Irish , Welsh , Rabbiting or Standard , just depends where you come from and don't get me started on Mattocks never mind those.
Its got to be purrrfect
6 Oct 2009 by Chris Thornton
Terminology!
You Yorkies refer to the dole as "Pancrack" and in Westmoreland it's "Baggin" for your lunch box!
And in some parts its "Look at his lunch box" when referring to his nether regions!!!!!
That's the beauty of being English. We never know what we are all talking about!
Got to be "Pitch" though!!
As for the southern hemisphere referring to the square as a "block"
Ian Smith was the first I heard say that in 2003 in N Z and I thought to myself, "What a knob" Everyone knows a "Square" is not square so he was looking for a more descriptive term for it so he comes up with "block".
"The only block is on his head" I thought. "It can't catch on" I thought. But it seems to have done so, at least down there where they will do anything to change tradition, like putting the no of wickets lost before the runs and inventing Pyjama Cricket AAAGGHHHH!
Bed time
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
7 Oct 2009 by vid
Heres my ten penny worth!! When I am talking about where I am working i refer to it as the square or specifically the pitch, when talking about the square in general technical terms I refer to the 'table'. I prepare a strip or pitch but once prepared I refer to it as the wicket as does just about every cricketer I know down here in the South. Ie how does the wicket look, how is the wicket playing or that was a cr*p wicket. What ever the combined term for the stumps are I never hear them referrred to as wickets - always the stumps, however every cricketer takes or loses wickets even if the 'wickets' have not been disturbed.
I thought quite long about this (and I'm proud of it) but at the end of the day I love the game far too much to worry about it, please keep calling it whatever you like - it just proves what a fantastically rich game it is!!!
Ps Chris - I'll try and get out more so long as you promise to as well!
And Peter you're just a flaming trouble maker
7 Oct 2009 by Chris Thornton
I do get out a little bit "Vid" and a couple of days ago I was out, in the steam room and a bloke I know who frequents the place, asked me what I did. I told him and he said he had no idea about Cricket. I said that I thought it was the best sports game in the world. "Why?" He asked. 'Cause its the most versatile in the time it takes to play a game. It can be as short as 20 overs per side which takes about 3 hrs, to a test match which can take 5 days! And sometimes the 5 day game can be more exciting than the 3 hour one.
I explained that it got a bit confusing after that and left it .
He did say something along the lines of, "What is there for you to do between seasons?"
"Nowt!" I replied and went for a swim.
Captain Webb
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
7 Oct 2009 by jlawrence
Chris. All the bloody cricketers think we do nowt in the winter as it is. You really didn't ought to be reinforcing that belief.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
7 Oct 2009 by Chris Thornton
He wasn't a cricketer J L He said he knew nothing about the game! ("So, probably was a cricketer then," I here you say. LOL)
There's more though and after this I will say no more.
The Weakest Link this very Wednesday 07 10 2009 has just ended. Question from Anne, "In cricket a wicket consists of two bails and how many stumps?" The bloke thought for quite a time and got it right. "Three"
Say no more!!
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
7 Oct 2009 by Four Oaks
He didn't necessarilly get it right, he just had the same answer as Anne Robinon. 
Presentation is the name of the game.
7 Oct 2009 by Pitchcare Peter Last edited 7 Oct 2009
Thanks for your continued input.
So, if we take Chris's terminology as accurate, then:
Table - can also be 'the square' or 'the block' (hate that too Chris)
Pitch - can be 'strip', wicket', 'track'.
Outfield - can also be 'the ground' or 'the pitch'
So, what about 'the oval'?
For your info, the article concerned is on a First Class County groundsman. He was happy with 'strip' as reference to the wicket/track/pitch!
Now. I'm really 'stumped' - time to bail out!
Give a man enough rope ... and he'll make a boundary
7 Oct 2009 by Chris Thornton Last edited 7 Oct 2009
Our lot wanted a rope for the boundary but I had to inform them that it would get stolen if we left it out overnight so I "stole" them a marker instead. Now the edge of the outfield is marked with a chalk line and yes Peter this thread has reached it's boundary!!
ROLL ON APRIL 2010 can't wait to start preparing the...................s!
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
7 Oct 2009 by Chris Thornton
Except that "Ground" surely includes the BAR! Thank God!!
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
8 Oct 2009 by jlawrence Last edited 8 Oct 2009
ground = everything past the entrance gate - which they seem to think I have to look after as well :)
square = everything in the middle
stumps = the wooden f'in things that my bowlers can't even hit if I offer free beer.
Wicket = stumps with 2 wooden things on top which just happen to be something else my bowlers can't hit.....
track = the bit I spend f'in hours prep'ing just for some tit to get a duck and tell me I did it wrong.
outfield = the biggest area of all which no committee seems to want to spend any money on.
strip = something certain friends do after losing at spoof :)
bar = the place where we drowned our sorrows during a normal sunny summer 
Oval = the place my keeping innards came from after the last test........ cheers :)
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
8 Oct 2009 by Vic Demain
We call the pitch, "the deck" can't see the issue.
8 Oct 2009 by paul kelsey
Peter
Our overseas this year was born in Sth Africa lives in NZ and plays his cricket in Aus, he looks after one of the grounds in Aus and helped out a bit with us and he called the ground the oval, first time he rang me to see if i was going down to the oval i said no chance its too far its in London, he was still calling it the oval when he left.
11 Oct 2009 by Chris Boniface
hi,
football pitch,
hockey pitch,
rugby pitch,
cricket pitch,
bowling green, very much so
Tennis court,..?????? guilty
golf green, tee, fairway,course........zzzzzzzzz's.
cricket pitch.
chris
12 Oct 2009 by andy dixon
Mario, if they can roll your pitch up and take it home you have a serious leatherjacket problem!
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