Glossary of Cricket Terms - W

W

Waft

A loose non-committal shot, usually played to a ball pitched short of length and well wide of the off stump.

Wag

when the tail (the lower order of the batting line-up) scores more runs than it is expected to, it is said to have wagged (an extension of the animal tail metaphor, "wikt:tail wagging the dog")

Wagon wheel

a graphical chart which divides a cricket ground into six sectors (looking like the spokes of a wagon style wheel), and shows how many runs a batsman has scored into each area. The term may also be used for the Spider Graph, a similar graphic that displays the same information in greater detail.

Walk

of a batsman, to walk off the pitch, knowing or believing that he is out, rather than waiting for an umpire to give him out (forfeiting the chance that the umpire may give the benefit of the doubt regarding a dismissal if he is not certain that the batsman is out). Generally considered to be sportsmanlike behaviour though increasingly rare in international cricket.

Walking wicket

a very poor batsman, particularly tail-end batsmen, who are usually specialist bowlers.

Wash out

a cricket match, or a specific day of a cricket match, which is abandoned with either no play or very little play due to rain.

Wearing wicket

On a turf pitch, typically consisting of dry/dead grass on the top, the soil can be loosened because of the players, stepping on it during play, and rough, abrasive patches can form. This means that as the pitch wears, or becomes worn, balls that land in these rough areas will grip the surface more and turn more drastically, thereby becoming more helpful to spin bowling. Uneven bounce can also result.

Wicket

1. a set of stumps and bails;

2. the pitch; or

3. the dismissal of a batsman.

Wicket-keeper

the player on the fielding side who stands immediately behind the batting end wicket. A specialist position, used throughout the game.

Wicket-keeper/batsman

a wicket-keeper who is also a very good batsman, capable of opening the batting or at least making good scores in the top order.

Wicket maiden

a maiden over in which the bowler also dismisses a batsman. A double wicket maiden if two wickets are taken, and so on.

Wicket-to-wicket (or stump-to-stump)

an imaginary line connecting the two wickets, also a style of straight, un-varied bowling.

Wide

a delivery that passes illegally wide of the wicket, scoring an extra for the batting side. A wide does not count as one of the six valid deliveries that must be made in each over – an extra ball must be bowled for each wide.

Worm

a plot of either the cumulative runs scored, or the progressive run rate achieved by a team (the y-axis) against the over number (x-axis) in limited-overs cricket.

Wrist spin

Wrong foot

when the bowling foot is the front foot the delivery is said to be bowled off the wrong foot. Such a bowler is said to bowl off the wrong foot.

Wrong footed

when the batsman is initially moving either back or forward to a delivery and then has to suddenly change which foot he uses (back or front), he is said to have been wrong-footed. Usually applies to spin bowling.

Wrong 'un

another name for a googly; most common in Australia.