Nelson (cricket)
Nelson is a piece of cricket slang terminology and superstition.
The name, applied to team or individual scores of 111 or 222 (known as a double nelson) is thought to refer to Lord Nelson's lost eye, arm and leg (Nelson actually had both of his legs intact, the third missing body part is mythical).[1] Also, some consider that '111' represents the three stumps without the bails, which symbolizes being out.
It is thought by the superstitious that bad things happen on that score[2], although an investigation by the magazine The Cricketer in the 1990s found that wickets are no more likely to fall on Nelson and indeed, the score at which most wickets fall is 0 (a duck).
Umpire David Shepherd made popular the longstanding practise of raising a leg or legs from the ground on Nelson in an effort to avoid ill fate.[3] When crowds noticed this, they would cheer his leg-raising.
The equivalent superstitious number in Australian cricket is 87, or the "Devil's Number," thirteen shy of 100.
Notes and references
- ^ Booth, Lawrence. Arm-ball to Zooter: A Sideways Look at the Language of Cricket. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140515817.
- ^ Australians have a similar superstition about scores of 87, 187, 287, etc. as it is 13 short of the next century
- ^ David Shepherd (2003-04-12). "David Shepherd's Umpire Guide - My Quirks". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2007-01-19.