Glossary of Cricket Terms - D

D

Daisy cutter

When a ball rolls along the pitch or bounces more than 2 times

Day/night cricket

Dead ball

1. the state of play in between deliveries, in which batsmen may not score runs or be given out.

2. called when the ball becomes lodged in the batsman's clothing or equipment.

3. called when the ball is (or is about to be) bowled when the batsman is not yet ready.

4. called when a bowler aborts his run up without making a delivery.

5. called when the batsmen attempt to run leg-byes after the ball has struck the batsman's body, but is deemed to have not offered a shot.

Dead bat

the bat when held with a light grip such that it gives when the ball strikes it, and the ball loses momentum and falls to the ground.

Dead rubber

Death overs (also slog overs)

the final ten overs in a one-day match, in which a batting side with wickets in hand can bat aggressively, and in which bowlers are, usually, hit for lots of runs. Bowlers who bowl during the death overs are said to "bowl at the death"

Death rattle

the sound a batsman hears when he is bowled.

Decision review system

see Umpire Decision Review System.

Declaration

the act of a captain voluntarily bringing his side's innings to a close, in the belief that their score is now great enough to prevent defeat. Occurs almost exclusively in timed forms of cricket where a draw is a possible result (such as first class cricket), in order that the side declaring have enough time to bowl the opposition out and therefore win.

Debenture

Declaration bowling

deliberately poor bowling (Full tosses and Long hops) from the fielding team to allow the batsman to score runs quickly and encourage the opposing captain to declare.

Defensive field

A fielding configuration in which fielders are spread around the field so as to more readily stop hit balls and reduce the number of runs (particularly boundaries) being scored by batsmen, at the cost of fewer opportunities to take catches and dismiss batsmen.

Delivery

the act of bowling the ball.

Devil's number (also Dreaded number)

a score of 87, regarded as unlucky in Australian cricket. According to Australian superstition, batsmen have a tendency to be dismissed for 87. The superstition is thought to originate from the fact that 87 is 13 runs short of a century. The English term Nelson similarly refers to a superstition concerning a number traditionally regarded as unlucky.

Diamond duck

regional usage varies, but either a dismissal (usually run out) without facing a delivery, or a dismissal (for zero) off the first ball of a team's innings (the less common term platinum duck is used interchangeably).

Dibbly dobbly

1. a bowler of limited skill.

2. a delivery that is easy to hit.

Dilscoop

A stroke where a batsman goes on one knee and hits a good length or slightly short of length ball straight over the wicket keeper's head usually to the boundary or over it. Displayed at the world stage by Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan during the ICC World Twenty20 in June 2009 and named after him.

Dink

a gentle shot.

Dipper

a delivery bowled which curves into or away from the batsman before pitching.

Dismissal

to get one of the batsmen out so that he must cease batting.

Direct hit

a throw from a fieldsman that directly strikes and puts down a wicket (without first being caught by a fieldsman standing at the stumps). Occurs when attempting a run out.

Dolly

a very easy catch.

Donkey drop

A ball with a very high trajectory prior to bouncing.

Doosra

a relatively new off spin delivery developed by Saqlain Mushtaq; the finger spin equivalent of the googly, in that it turns the "wrong way". From the Hindi or Urdu for second or other. First coined by Pakistani wicket keeper Moin Khan.

Dot ball

a delivery bowled without any runs scored off it, so called because it is recorded in the score book with a single dot.

Double

normally the scoring of a 1000 runs and the taking of 100 wickets in the same season.

Double hat-trick

Taking four wickets in four consecutive balls, so named because it consists of two overlapping hat-tricks. Former Hampshire player Kevan James is the only player in first class cricket's history to take a double hat-trick and score a century in the same match, achieved against India at Southampton in 1996. Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga is the only international player to have taken a double hat-trick, against South Africa in the 2007 world cup.

Down the pitch (also Down the wicket)

referring to the motion of a batsman towards the bowler prior to or during the delivery, made in the hope of turning a good length ball into a half-volley.

Draw

1. a result in timed matches where the team batting last are not all out, but fail to exceed their opponent's total. Not to be confused with a tie, in which the side batting last is all out or run out of overs with the scores level.

2. an antiquated stroke that has fallen into disuse, it was originally a deliberate shot that resembled the French cut – the ball being played between one's own legs.

Draw stumps

Declare the game over; a reference to (with)drawing the stumps from the ground by the umpire.

Drift

the slight lateral curved-path movement that a spinner extracts while the ball is in flight. Considered very good bowling.

Drinks

a short break in play, generally taken in the middle of a session, when refreshments are brought out to the players and umpires by the twelfth men of each side. Drinks breaks do not always take place, but they are usual in test matches, particularly in hot countries.

Drinks waiter

a jocular term for the twelfth man, referring to his job of bringing out drinks.

Drive

a powerful shot generally hit along the ground or sometimes in the air in a direction between cover point on the off side and mid-wicket on the leg side, or in an arc between roughly thirty degrees each side of the direction along the pitch.

Drop

1. the accidental "dropping" of a ball that was initially caught by a fielder, thus denying the dismissal of the batsman; when such an event occurs, the batsman is said to have been "dropped".

2. the number of dismissals which occur in a team's innings before a given batsman goes in to bat; a batsman batting at 'first drop' is batting at number three in the batting order, going in after one wicket has fallen.

Drop-in pitch

a temporary pitch that is cultivated off-site from the field which also allows other sports to share the use of the field with less chance of injury to the players.

DRS

common abbreviation for the Umpire Decision Review System.

Duck

a batsman's score of nought (zero) dismissed, as in "he was out for a duck." It can refer to a score of nought not out during an innings, as in "she hasn't got off her duck yet", but never refers to a completed innings score of nought not out. Originally called a "duck's egg" because of the "0" shape in the scorebook. ( see Golden, Diamond, and Platinum duck )

Duck under delivery

a short pitched delivery that appears to be a bouncer, making the striker duck to avoid from being hit; but instead of bouncing high, it has a low bounce which causes the batsman to be dismissed LBW, or occasionally bowled.

Duckworth-Lewis method

a mathematically based rule that derives a target score for the side batting second in a rain-affected one-day match.

Dugout