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The “Popping Crease”
The “popping crease” is the crease used for determining whether or not a batsman has “made his ground” or is “run out” or “stumped”. Why is it called this? A long, long time ago - about 200 years ago – there was no painted crease on a pitch. Instead, a little hole, slightly bigger than a cricket ball was set in the pitch in front of the stumps where the batsman took guard. In order to get a “run out” against the batsman, the fielder “popped” the ball into the hole before the batsman could get that far. Hence the name – popping crease” has stuck.
The “Bowling Crease”
Many present day cricketers might be slightly mystified as why the crease at whose rear edge the wickets are mounted is called the “bowling crease” when it has nothing to with bowling a cricket ball. “No ball” is called when the bowler has no part of his foot behind (grounded or not) the “popping crease” which is the crease also used for determining whether or not a batsman has “made his ground” or is “run out” or “stumped”. The answer lies in history. The really old cricketers among us remember when a delivery was legal only if a portion of the bowler’s BACK FOOT at the moment of delivery was GROUNDED behind what is still called the “bowling crease”. If you check your father’s or grandfathers old boots, you might find the TOP of the boot is worn away. Many boots had steel toe caps inside the leather upper in order to extend their working lives. The Laws of Cricket were changed in 1980 from the “back foot rule” to today’s “front foot rule”. The name lives on.
Cricket is flooded with sympathy. Sympathy for being out, for being given out when you weren’t, for letting the ball pass between your feet and looking foolish, for bowling all afternoon and not taking a single wicket, for not getting a chance to bowl, for bowling a load of rubbish and being hit all over the park, for scoring no runs, for scoring 99 runs and being out, for not getting a chance to bat, for dropping 8 catches.
Cricketers are men who are prepared to push the Laws of Cricket to the absolute limit. This is why the Bye-laws often wind up being changed to accommodate those few individuals who keep pushing the limits. The same applies to the Disciplinary Code.
