Ever since, in my junior school report, the only good thing they could find to say about me was "He would make a good cricketer" I have disliked the game intensely.

But, reading the other day that some bright spark in the governing body had decided to modernise the terminology made my blood boil. Now, I'm not averse to change, I spent a large part of my working life making changes to improve results. But the reason for changing the terminology in cricket is to make a new competition,"The Hundred", attractive to newcomers and to expand it's fan base.

The term 'wickets' is to be replaced by 'outs' and batsmen will be known as 'batters'. There are more, but you get the drift. Are folk really too daft to understand what a wicket is? No more sticky wickets - bonkers.

Needless to say, my mind wandered to thoughts of how football terms could be changed to make our game more understandable. Goals could become 'ins' I suppose. But I thought there might be an opportunity for some creative thinking by livelier brains than mine, so what new terms would you suggest.

Finally, if you've got the time and the inclination, this is an amusing piece on the subject by Henry Blofeld.

[Link]

Ever since, in my junior school report, the only good thing they could find to say about me was "He would make a good cricketer" I have disliked the game intensely.

But, reading the other day that some bright spark in the governing body had decided to modernise the terminology made my blood boil. Now, I'm not averse to change, I spent a large part of my working life making changes to improve results. But the reason for changing the terminology in cricket is to make a new competition,"The Hundred", attractive to newcomers and to expand it's fan base.

The term 'wickets' is to be replaced by 'outs' and batsmen will be known as 'batters'. There are more, but you get the drift. Are folk really too daft to understand what a wicket is? No more sticky wickets - bonkers.

Needless to say, my mind wandered to thoughts of how football terms could be changed to make our game more understandable. Goals could become 'ins' I suppose. But I thought there might be an opportunity for some creative thinking by livelier brains than mine, so what new terms would you suggest.

Finally, if you've got the time and the inclination, this is an amusing piece on the subject by Henry Blofeld.

[Link]

A Front = Offside

That's a Leg = someone made a tackle

That's an Ice = ditto sliding tackle

Stop = goalkeeper made a save

Decoy = dived

"The Hundred" is supposed to be an attempt to attract younger people to cricket but I'm not sure that real cricket fans will take to it as it's franchise based and not county based.

I wonder how many people would be willing to watch football if Palace, Charlton and Millwall were amalgamated and renamed South London which is effectively what will happen with The Hundred.

Incidentally professional cricketers have always referred to batsmen as batters

Edited by Midlands Eagle (15 Apr 2021 3.54pm)

Just of the subject of the Hundred it is a competition concocted by marketing men so jealous of the IPL’s success they had to come up with something “revolutionary”. I am a cricket fan and this kind of bollox is not something I will give two hoots about. Change for changes sake. There are so many t20 (and even a t10) francises around the world the last thing we need is another one.