Gardening - the repairing
of damaged or disturbed bits of the pitch by a batsman
using his bat. Often this is a
bit of self-reassurance by the batsman after a good
delivery, patting down some non-existent gremlin in
the surface.
Gate - the gap left between bat and pad by the batsman that the ball could go (or
has gone) through.
Glance - a delicate shot, usually to leg, that has deflected rather than assaulted the ball.
Golden duck – a batsman getting out for nought
first ball.
Good-length ball - a ball landing in a spot where, especially if it's straight, the batsman can't easily attack
it. It may also make him uncertain whether to play
back or forward to it. The place varies for different bowlers. For quick men it
will pitch 4-6 yards in front of the batsman, for spinners it will be 3-4 yards in front, or
'10 paces' as Ray Illingworth always said.
Googly - a leg break that
is bowled out of the back of
the hand that makes the ball spin in the opposite direction (i.e. from left to right). It's a hard ball to detect from 22 yards away, and is so called because, when it was first
discovered in the 1890s,
it made the batsman 'goggle' with surprise.
Green top - a pitch that
has a lot of visible live grass, greeted with feverish anticipation by fast bowlers.
Grubber - a ball which shoots low along the ground after pitching. The Australian version is a mullygrubber.
Guard - a batsman's preferred standing place at the wicket. He 'takes guard' by holding his bat up vertically in front of the stumps and
asking the umpire which stump it is covering. He
then marks the place with the edge of the bat.
and blockhole.
Gully - a close fielding position alongside the slip cordon, so called because it is in the gap or 'gully' between slip and cover point.
|
