Just to confuse the non-cricketers further, a bowler's tally of victims is referred to as their number of wickets - ie "Smith took three wickets for a total of 47 runs".

In a similar way, a winning team may be said to have won by a certain number of wickets - ie the winning team still had a number of players that weren't out at the conclusion of the match.

Whilst the game is in progress, the batting team is said to have "n wickets in hand" - ie n batters have yet to get out.

Confused? That's cricket!

Just thought I'd mention that the Aussies beat the South Africans in the last two test matches by 9 wickets and ten wickets!!

stales