Nelson (cricket)
Encyclopedia
Nelson is a piece of cricket
slang terminology and superstition
.
The name, applied to team or individual scores of 111 or multiples thereof (known as double nelson, triple nelson, etc.) 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). Longtime cricket historian and scorer, Bill "Bearders" Frindall once referred to it online as "one eye, one arm and one etcetera", implying that Nelson's alleged third lost body part was "something else", however this is equally mythical...
It is thought by the superstitious that bad things happen on that score, 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
). It may be considered unlucky because the number resembles a wicket without bails (a batsman is out when the bails fall from a wicket).
Umpire
David Shepherd
made popular the longstanding practice of raising a leg or legs from the ground on Nelson in an effort to avoid ill fate. 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. Statistics have shown that more Australian batsmen are in fact dismissed on the surrounding numbers.
On 11 November 2011, in a match between South Africa and Australia with the time at 11:11 with South Africa requiring 111 runs to win, the majority of the crowd and umpire Ian Gould
did Shepherd's leg raise Nelson for that minute with the scoreboard reading 11:11 11/11/11.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
slang terminology and superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
.
The name, applied to team or individual scores of 111 or multiples thereof (known as double nelson, triple nelson, etc.) is thought to refer to Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
's lost eye, arm and leg (Nelson actually had both of his legs intact, the third missing body part is mythical). Longtime cricket historian and scorer, Bill "Bearders" Frindall once referred to it online as "one eye, one arm and one etcetera", implying that Nelson's alleged third lost body part was "something else", however this is equally mythical...
It is thought by the superstitious that bad things happen on that score, although an investigation by the magazine The Cricketer in the 1990s found that wickets
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
are no more likely to fall on Nelson and indeed, the score at which most wickets fall is 0 (a duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
). It may be considered unlucky because the number resembles a wicket without bails (a batsman is out when the bails fall from a wicket).
Umpire
Umpire (cricket)
In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...
David Shepherd
David Shepherd (umpire)
David Robert Shepherd MBE was one of the cricket world's best-known umpires. He stood in 92 Test matches, the last of them in June 2005, and officiated in three World Cup finals.- Playing career :...
made popular the longstanding practice of raising a leg or legs from the ground on Nelson in an effort to avoid ill fate. 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. Statistics have shown that more Australian batsmen are in fact dismissed on the surrounding numbers.
On 11 November 2011, in a match between South Africa and Australia with the time at 11:11 with South Africa requiring 111 runs to win, the majority of the crowd and umpire Ian Gould
Ian Gould
Ian James Gould is an ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire and a former English cricketer. He is also chairman of English football club Burnham FC.-Player:...
did Shepherd's leg raise Nelson for that minute with the scoreboard reading 11:11 11/11/11.