Tag Archives: UK Games & Sports Q&A

Why is a zero score by a batsman called a duck?

Cricket

The term is a shortening of “duck’s egg”, which was used long before cricket began. When referring to the Prince of Wales’ (the future Edward VII) score of naught on July 17, 1866, a contemporary newspaper wrote that the Prince “retired to the royal pavilion on a ‘duck’s egg'” because the shape of the number “0” is similar to that …

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Why is cricket called a gentleman’s game?

Cricket Background

Cricket is nicknamed as Gentlemen’s Game: If it was a gentlemen’s game, was it ever a players’ game? For years, probably till the Second World War brought a bit more egality into the world, the English (United Kingdom) divided its cricketers into gentlemen and players. The former were the amateurs, men generally from a privileged background who had gone to …

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