leg before wicket

English

Pronunciation

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Adverb

leg before wicket (not comparable)

1. (cricket) Describing the way of getting out in which the ball would have hit the batsman's wicket, but hits the batsman's legs or more rarely another part of the batsman's body without first hitting the bat or a hand holding the bat.

Noun

leg before wicket (plural leg before wickets)

1. (cricket) An instance of a batsman being out due to the leg before wicket law.

Usage notes

The section of the Laws of Cricket defining exactly what constitutes a "leg before wicket" is more involved than the definition given here. See the Wikipedia article for a lengthier discussion.

Synonyms

• LBW (initialism, common)