Glossary of Cricket Terms - P

P

Pace bowling (also fast bowling)

a style of bowling in which the ball is delivered at high speeds, typically over 90 mph (145 km/h). Pace bowlers also use swing.

Pads

protective equipment for batsmen and wicket-keepers, covering the legs.

Pad away or pad-play

use the pads hit the ball away from the wicket, only possible when there is no danger of LBW (for example, if the ball pitched on the leg side). Using the pad instead of the bat removes the danger of being caught by close fielders.

Paddle sweep

A very fine sweep, almost just a tickle of the delivery pitched on or outside leg stump.

Paddle scoop

A shot where the batsman scoops the ball over his/her shoulder in order to find a boundary either behind the wicketkeeper or in the fine leg region.

Pair

a "pair of spectacles" (0–0) or a "pair of ducks". A batsman's score of nought (zero) runs in both innings of a two-innings match (see this list of Pairs in test and first class cricket).

Partnership

the number of runs scored between a pair of batsmen before one of them gets dismissed. This also includes the deliveries faced and time taken.

Part Time

a bowler who doesn't always bowl but is adequate enough to bowl seldom and is often successful because of variation in performance and their surprising attributes.

Pavilion

the grandstand or building complex where the player's dressing rooms and members of the association or club owning the ground are seated. The dressing rooms are generally located in the members' area.

Peach

a delivery bowled by a fast bowler considered unplayable, usually a really good delivery that a batsman gets out to, or one that is too good that the batsmen cannot even edge.

Perfect over, The

For a bowler, it would be a Maiden over by scoring all 6 wickets within an over. For a batsman, it would be scoring 36 runs (or more by extras) by scoring all sixes off a single bowler in a single over.

Perfume ball

a bouncer on or just outside off-stump that passes within inches of the batsman's face. So called because the ball is supposedly close enough to the batsman's face that he can smell it.

Picket fences

an over in which one run is scored off each delivery. It looks like picket fences 111111, hence the name.

Pie Chucker (or Pie Thrower)

A poor bowler, usually of slow to medium pace whose deliveries are flighted so much as to appear similar to a pie in the air. Considered easy to score off by batsmen – see Buffet Bowling. Famously used by English batsman Kevin Pietersen to refer to the part-time left arm orthodox spin of Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh.

Pinch hitter

a lower order batsman promoted up the batting order to increase the run rate. The term, if not the precise sense, is borrowed from baseball.

Pitch

1. the rectangular surface in the centre of the field where most of the action takes place, usually made of earth or clay. It is 22 yards in length.

2. of the ball, to bounce before reaching the batsman after delivery.

3. the spot where the ball pitches (sense 2).

Pitch (It) Up

to bowl a delivery on a fuller length.

Pitch map

a diagram showing where a number of balls, usually from a particular bowler, have pitched. Compare beehive.

Placement

the ball when it is hit such that it bisects or trisects the fielders placed on the field. The ball usually ends up being a four.

Platinum duck

a player dismissed without even facing a ball - most likely by being run out as the non striker. Also sometimes referred to as a Diamond Duck.

Playing on

for the batsman to hit the ball with his bat but only succeed in diverting it onto the stumps. The batsman is thus out bowled. Also known as "dragging on" or "chopping on"

Playing time

Plumb

of a dismissal by LBW: indisputable, obvious. Of a wicket, giving true bounce.

Point

A fielding position square of the batsman's off side.

Point of release

the position of the bowler at the moment when the ball is released.

Pongo

(used primarily by UK county players) a very high volume of run-making, or batting assault.

Popper

a ball that rises sharply from the pitch when bowled ('pops up').

Popping crease

One of two lines in the field defined as being four feet in front of and parallel to that end's bowling crease where the wickets are positioned. A batsman who does not have either the bat or some part of his or her body touching the ground behind the popping crease is considered out of his ground and is in danger of being dismissed run out or stumped.

Powerplay

a block of overs that in One Day Internationals offer a temporary advantage to the batting side.

Pro20

South African form of Twenty20

Pro40

The name of a limited overs competition played in England towards the late summer. Games are arranged in group stages with later knockout stages for the qualifiers. So named as there are 40 overs per side.

Projapoti

A zero rotation slower or variation ball, which when bowled correctly, moves erratically in flight like a butterfly. So named by the Bangladesh bowling coach Ian Pont & fielding coach Julien Fountain as Projapoti means butterfly in Bengali. Based on the same aerodynamic principles as baseball's knuckleball.

Protected area

An area of the pitch defined as two feet wide down the middle of the pitch and beginning five feet from each popping crease. A bowler is not allowed to trespass this area in his or her follow-through or the bowler is given a warning. Three such warnings will immediately bar him or her from bowling for the rest of the innings.

Pull

a shot played to the leg side to a short-pitched delivery, between mid-wicket and backward square-leg.

Pursuit

Synonym of runchase.