Wicket in Cricket

The word with three different meanings in cricket — the stumps, a dismissal, and the pitch itself.

What is a Wicket?

Cricket's most overloaded word. A wicket is the set of three stumps and two bails a bowler aims at. Taking a wicket means dismissing a batter, whether bowled, caught, LBW, run out, or otherwise. And the wicket is also the strip of pitch itself, as in 'a good batting wicket' or 'a wicket that's turning square'. Commentators switch between all three meanings mid-sentence, which is exactly why it confuses newcomers.

In play

'Bowled him! That's his fifth wicket, on a wicket that's started to break up near the other wicket.' Three meanings, one sentence — welcome to cricket commentary.

More laws terms

• CreaseThe white lines marked on the pitch that define where batters and bowlers must operate.
• Striker / Non-StrikerThe two batters at the crease — the striker faces the bowling, the non-striker waits at the other end.
• OverA set of six legal deliveries bowled from one end, after which a different bowler takes over from the other end.
• BoundaryThe rope marking the edge of the playing field — and the four or six runs scored when the ball reaches or crosses it.
• Run OutA dismissal where a batter fails to reach a crease before the fielding side breaks the stumps at that end.
• StumpedA dismissal where the wicketkeeper breaks the stumps while the batter is out of their crease, without a run being attempted.