In the game of cricket, the word "wicket" confusingly refers to three different things. Cricket is a fairly impenetrable game for the uninitiated, and this terminological fluidity doesn't help.

Here are the three meanings for wicket. Note how they have little relationship to each other.

  • A synonym for pitch, ie, the 22 yard strip of rolled and flattened turf that is the central feature of any cricket ground.
  • A synonym for stumps, ie, the 3 cylindrical wooden sticks topped with two bails that the bowler aims for, and the batter attempts to defend.
  • The dismissal of a batter, for example, a bowler is said to have "five wickets" if they have dismissed five batters.

In addition, wicket is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense. See Bat on a sticky wicket.