Cricket Metaphors 101
I grew up on a diet of cricket in India, and media in cricket-loving countries use cricket related metaphors all around. When I immigrated to the US, I didn’t recognize baseball metaphors until I’d lived here a few years. It was easier for me to understand baseball when the similarities and differences with cricket were pointed out. Throughout this blog post, I will compare the two sports, but will also focus on the metaphors used in cricket. If interested, I also have a blog post on baseball metaphors to check out.
Baseball vs Cricket
Both are bat and ball games. In both games, there are two teams : one batting and the other bowling. The team batting attempts to score runs by hitting the ball with the bat, while the team bowling attempts to reduce the runs and get the players out.
In cricket, there are three wooden wickets or stumps that support two horizontal bails behind the batsman. The batsman guards those stumps at all times by his person or bat.
In baseball, a batter defends the invisible strike zone. Think of an imaginary rectangle roughly between the knees and shoulders of the batter over the home plate.
Bowling in baseball is full-toss and the ball comes straight at the batter. In cricket , the ball usually bounces once prior to reaching the batsman.
A pitch in cricket is the distance between the two sets of wickets. A pitch in baseball is delivery of the ball.
If a pitched ball passes inside the strike zone without the batter hitting it or if the batter swings and misses the ball , that’s a strike. A batter strikes out after three strikes. Striking out in baseball is similar to being bowled out in cricket.
Bowled Out
One of the ways a batsman gets out in cricket is if one of the bails is dislodged by a ball. A batsman can be “bowled out” or “clean bowled”. In both cases the ball strikes down at least one of the bails. However, when a batsman gets out by a ball that strikes down a bail without touching the batsman’s person or bat , the batsman is called as having been “clean bowled“. While the phrase “bowled out” represents that you are out of the game or beaten on the issue at hand ; clean bowled” is metaphorically used to represent that a person has been completely taken over. Here are some examples on usage from media headlines :
“When Pak media bowled out Imran Khan for his comments on Narendra Modi”
“Not a single car sold? Auto makers in India may be bowled out for duck in April”
“Yorkshire cricketer bowled out by £140k tax bill”
“Indian Prime Minister has clean-bowled Pakistan’s prime minister with Kashmir yorker” (Note that Kashmir is a disputed border state)
“Netizens clean-bowled by a heart touching video of a mother-son duo playing cricket”
Yorker
A “yorker” is a ball in cricket that hits the pitch around the feet of the batsman, making it difficult for the batsman to defend the wickets with a normal batting stance. More often than out, a yorker results in the ball striking the wickets. There are many theories around it’s origin. One such theory points the origin to a phrase used in the eighteenth century “to come Yorkshire” or “to put a Yorkshire” on someone, meaning to cheat or dupe them.
Bowl a Googly
A googly is a deceptive delivery, where the ball spins after pitching and goes in a different direction than where the batsman was expecting to hit. Metaphorically, to “bowl a googly” means to do something unexpected.
“Boris Johnson bowled a googly to thousands of cricketers across the country today when he said the sport could not be allowed to restart”
“In the game of words, Kerala police bowl a googly” ( Kerala is a state in India)
Google did not get it’s name from the same source of googly; it was mis spelled from the word googol. The origin of googly is a little unclear, some theories point to a combination of “goo” and “guile” and some point to “google eyes”.
Sticky Wicket
When the area around the wicket is sticky or damp due to recent rain, the ball does not tend to bounce well. A sticky wicket represents a difficult circumstance, as seen below.
“Indian expats with expired visas on sticky wicket”
“Natural rubber sector on a sticky wicket
Hit for Six
While a batter scores a run in baseball by running and completing a round of the four bases, run scoring in cricket is a little different.
A cricket batsman can score a single, double or three runs by hitting the ball and running between the two sets of wickets. Four runs are scored if the batsman hits the ball and it bounces or touches the ground at least once prior to hitting the boundary. Unlike baseball, there is no foul territory in cricket and the batsman can hit the ball anywhere. This is assuming that a fielder does not dislodge a wicket before either of the two batsmen have reached their respective creases or the ball is not caught by a fielder (similar to a fly-out in baseball)
If the batsman hits the ball over the boundary, it is six runs; the maximum runs for one cricket shot. If the bowler is hit for a six by the batsman, it is a blow to the bowler. Similar usage below highlights the emotional or physical impact of being “hit for six”.
“Cricket is hit for six as coronavirus pandemic leaves county clubs with cash black hole”
“Hit for six by a devastating stroke, this author played on and got his book finished”
It’s Just Not Cricket
Cricket has traditionally been called a gentleman’s game, although some claim that is a victorian notion and not applicable today. When you hear the phrase “It’s not cricket”, it refers to unjust or unsportsmanlike behavior, as was exemplified in the cricket ball tampering incident in 2018.
“It’s just not cricket: Fans hit for six at the ticket office”
“It’s just not cricket: Harbhajan urges fans not to get caught out by COVID-19” – Harbhajan is a popular cricketer in India.
“Why These Indians and Pakistanis Rarely Discuss Tensions: It’s Just Not Cricket”
For context, Pakistan was once a part of India. When the British agreed to give India it’s independence in 1947, they split off Pakistan into a separate country. There have been constant border disputes between the two countries.
A Good Innings
Another popular phrase that comes from cricket is regarding “a good innings”. In cricket , “innings” is used for both a single innings and for multiple ones.
Let us first understand innings in cricket. There are basically two types of cricket formats played internationally : limited overs ( one-day internationals and Twenty20) and test cricket. In the limited overs matches, there are two innings where each team gets one turn to bat and a certain number of overs per inning (one over is six balls). In test cricket, there are usually two innings per team and no limit on the number of overs per inning. This means that each team gets to bowl and bat twice.
Technically, a team in test cricket can have a really long first inning until all their batsmen have been bowled out. However, more often that not, the captain of the team declares an inning if he or she feels that the team has scored sufficient runs. To win in test cricket, a team has to bowl out all batsmen from the opposing team in at least two innings and score more runs, so the other innings have to happen or else the match will be considered a draw.
If a team has set a high target number of runs in their inning, then they have a good innings. Or if an individual batsman has scored a good number of runs, then they are considered to have had a good innings. Unlike baseball, a batsman can bat in cricket until they are out.
In the metaphorical context, “a good innings” refers to when someone has had a good run at life or in their career. See examples below:
Decade’s medical advances may expand our notion of a good innings
World War Two veteran, dies at 103 after a good innings
Second Innings
A second innings usually refers to retirement or a comeback or a second career.
The headline of a news article on a popular Bollywood actor is “Saif Ali Khan on his second innings in Bollywood” . The article goes on to say “The actor was not seen on the silver screen for a long time before making a banging comeback”.
Another headline: “Second innings: 64-year-old retired bank official in Odisha enrolls in MBBS”. For context, Odisha is a state in India and MBBS is a medical degree.
On Back Foot
To be on the back foot means to be put in a defensive position, to be in retreat, to be knocked off balance.
It is derived from cricket when the player puts all the weight on the back foot in the face of a short ball and plays it safely. Going forward to hit the ball may increase the batsman’s chances of getting out. Going back into the crease and hitting the ball at the top of it’s bounce is a safe and defensive stance.
An equivalent boxing metaphor is to be on the ropes. Check out my blog post on boxing metaphors to learn more.
Gold on back foot as investors flock to safety of dollar
Hong Kong seethes 1 year on, but protesters on back foot
Social networks on back foot as digital campaigns expand tactics
I finally end with these lines from an article reviewing a popular Bollywood movie, using metaphors from cricket: “The disputed house at the center of the film’s plot is called “Second Innings House”: the old men living in it determined to play their “second innings” in life on the “front-foot”, after having played the “first innings on the back-foot“. When Gandhi asks the protagonist to follow the path of truth, he responds by articulating his doubts in the language of cricket. The truth would get him “clean-bowled.”
Robin Williams’ perspective has been that “Cricket is basically baseball on valium”; however I think it is and it isn’t, depending on how you look at it. Hopefully this blog post introduced some nuances on the differences and similarities. Check out my blog post on baseball metaphors and if you’re interested in discovering who is known as the God of Cricket in India, then read my blog post on Expressions with Religious Origins – 401.