Batsman
A
batsman in the sport of
cricket is, depending on context:
* Any player in the act of
batting.
* A player whose speciality in the game is batting.
During the play of a cricket match, two members of the batting team are on the field, while their team-mates wait off the field. Those two players are the current batsmen. Each batsman stands near one of the two
wickets at either end of the
cricket pitch near the centre of the ground.
The two batsmen have different roles:
* The
striker stands in front of the wicket nearest him and attempts to defend it from
balls bowled by the opposing
bowler from the other wicket.
* The
non-striker stands inactive near the bowler's wicket.
While defending his wicket, the striker may also hit the ball into the field and attempt to run to the opposite wicket, exchanging places with the non-striker. This scores a
run. The two batsmen may continue to exchange places, scoring additional runs, until members of the fielding team collect and return the ball to either wicket. See
run (cricket) for further details.
While the striker's position is dictated by the necessity to defend the bowled ball from hitting his wicket, the non-striker typically takes a few steps away from his wicket as the bowler delivers the ball, in preparation to run.
The skills required to be a good batsman vary with the type of cricket game being played and the situation of the game. Generally a batsman is required to score runs as quickly as possible without taking unnecessary risks and losing his
wicket. At other times a batsman may be required to simply occupy the
crease (stay in) as long as possible so as to prevent the
bowling team from winning the game before time runs out.
Batting average and
strike rate are standard statistical measures of a batsman's ability, although their objective values are a favoured subject of debate amongst fans.
Batsmen also have specialties within the skill. Some are opening batsmen (
openers), meaning that they are the first players to bat in an
innings. This specialty requires patience and fortitude to face the best opposition bowlers who are normally used first; typically these bowlers are fast bowlers, so an ability against fast pitched bowling is useful. In addition, a new cricket ball will keep its speed better when it bounces, which gives opening batsmen less time to play their shots. A new cricket ball will also have a tendency to move laterally when pitched as the seam is still prominent. However, an older ball may
swing more or even
reverse swing.
Following the opening batsmen are the middle-order batsmen (sometimes #3 is not considered middle-order). They are generally more free-scoring than the openers, partly because of their style and partly because the openers will have hopefully tired the bowlers and taken the shine and bounce from the new ball, so it should be easier to score runs.
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An artwork depicting the history of the cricket bat. (Click on the image for larger view) |
After the recognised batsmen, the batting team's bowlers bat. Bowlers generally spend more time practising bowling, and so their batting is usually not as accomplished as the recognised batsmen. Particularly bad batsmen are known as
rabbits. On occasion some truly woeful batsmen have been referred to as
ferrets as 'they go in after the
rabbits.'
Australian cricketer Sir
Donald Bradman,
"The Don", is universally accepted as the greatest exponent of the art of batting that the game has ever seen. His record is without peer.
Some players, known as
all-rounders, are reasonably good at batting and bowling and may occupy any position in the batting lineup but few are opening batsmen and obviously none is a rabbit (or they wouldn't be all-rounders!).
The
wicket-keeper also bats and is expected to be at least an adequate batsman: the choice of wicket-keepers for international teams is often influenced by their batting ability.
All of the above are generalisations and many exceptions can be found in the
history of cricket.
"Batsman" is occasionally used in baseball as an olde-timey sounding synonym for
batter; however, it is generally only used to describe the result of being
hit by a pitch.
The term
batsman is widely used in both men's and women's cricket. Attempts to use a gender-neutral term like "batter", or the specific term "batswoman' in the women's form of the game have met with little or no success, and are generally rebuffed by the players themselves.
Australia
*
Allan Border*
Sir Don Bradman*
Greg Chappell*
Adam Gilchrist*
Matthew Hayden*
Archie Jackson*
Billy Murdoch*
Ricky Ponting*
Bill Ponsford*
Mark Taylor*
Victor Trumper*
Steve Waugh*
Justin Langer*
Mark WaughBangladesh
*
Mohammed Ashraful*
Habibul BasharEngland
*
Ken Barrington*
Geoffrey Boycott*
Denis Compton*
Graham Gooch*
David Gower*
WG Grace*
Wally Hammond*
Jack Hobbs*
Len Hutton*
Herbert Sutcliffe*
Marcus Trescothick*
Michael Vaughan*
Kevin Pietersen*
Andrew Strauss*
Michael AthertonIndia
*
Mohammed Azharuddin*
Mahendra Singh Dhoni*
Rahul Dravid*
Saurav Ganguly*
Sunil Gavaskar*
Vijay Hazare*
Vijay Merchant*
Virender Sehwag*
Sachin Tendulkar*
Dilip Vengsarkar*
Mohammed Kaif*
Yuvraj Singh*
Gundappa ViswanathNew Zealand
*
Nathan Astle*
Martin Crowe*
Charles Dempster*
Stephen Fleming*
Scott Styris*
Glenn TurnerPakistan
*
Hanif Mohammad*
Inzamam-ul-Haq*
Javed Miandad*
Mohammad Yousuf*
Zaheer Abbas*
Saeed Anwar*
Younis KhanSouth Africa
*
Herschelle Gibbs*
Jacques Kallis*
Gary Kirsten*
Dudley Nourse*
Graeme Pollock*
Barry Richards*
Graeme Smith*
AB de VilliersSri Lanka
*
Marvan Atapattu*
Aravinda De Silva*
Sanath Jayasuriya*
Roshan Mahanama*
Romesh Kaluwitharana*
Mahela Jayawardene*
Arjuna Ranatunga*
Kumar SangakkaraWest Indies
*
Chris Gayle*
Gordon Greenidge*
George Headley*
Brian Lara*
Clive Lloyd*
Viv Richards*
Garry Sobers*
Clyde Walcott*
Everton Weekes*
Frank WorrellZimbabwe
*
Andy Flower*
David Houghton*
All-rounder*
Bowler*
Fielder*
Wicket-keeper*
Cricket terminology*
Gunn and Moore*
Woodworm*
Gray-Nicolls*
Slazenger*
Puma*
Hunts County*
MRF*
Kookaburra
