Cricket's funny phrasebook: How the sport's terminology might appear to an outsider

There are many, many words and phrases in the sport's lexicon which could be interpreted very, very differently. Here The Cricketer presents a handful of alternative definitions...

The Oxford English Dictionary are asking cricket fans to help compile a definitive list of words, phrases and slang commonly used in the sport, which those with no inside knowledge of our game would understand.

And with good reason. Cricket is full of peculiar parlance, generated by decades of contests between bat and ball the world over. Without context, our terminology makes no sense whatsoever.

After all, to Joe and Joanna Bloggs, the notion of a doosra pitching in the rough and going through the gate to get its man for a diamond duck is just plain baffling. 

In fact, there are many, many words and phrases in the sport's lexicon which could be interpreted very, very differently. And, with apologies to the cast and crew of Radio 4's iconic comedy show 'I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue', here The Cricketer presents a handful of alternative definitions.

Have you got one to contribute? Let us know in the comments section below.

Snickometer: Device used to measure the length of chocolate bars

Googly: Love of runny substances

Flipper: Contraption designed to move the wife to the other side of the bed

Bumper: See above

Baggy Green: Local park that suffers from a serious littering problem

Chinese cut: Wound caused by unwrapping a fortune cookie

Reverse swing: Playing the Glenn Miller Orchestra backwards

Dead ball: Poor party

Dilscoop: Healthy helping of herbs

Fly slip: Failure to dress properly

Fifer: Person from south east Scotland

Cover drive: Public plea for more duvets

Hole out: End of the miners’ working day

Hot Spot: Trendy nightclub

Jockstrap: Trick pulled by a Scotsman

Leading edge: Premier Irish guitarist

Loosener: Pilates

Mankad: Publicity for Manchester

Reserve day: Armed Forces celebration  

Reverse sweep: Making a mess

Run rate: Regularity of bowel movements

Sightscreen: Sunglasses

Square cut: Symmetrical injury

Moon ball: Alien’s party

Tail-ender: Final paragraph

Timed out: Exhaustion caused by reading magazines

Tail wag: Wife or girlfriend of famous animal

Yorker: Uncertainty about visiting the north east