Crease
Also known as: popping crease, bowling crease, return crease
The crease is any of the white painted lines on the cricket pitch that define legal bowling positions, the safe zone for batters, and the starting point for LBW and run-out adjudications.
There are three types of crease at each end of the pitch. The bowling crease runs through the base of the stumps and sets the legal limit for the bowler's front foot at release. The popping crease (also called the batting crease) runs 4 feet in front of the stumps, parallel to the bowling crease — a batter is safe ("in their ground") if any part of bat or body is behind this line. The return creases run at right angles from the bowling crease along both sides of the pitch, limiting how far the bowler's back foot can stray to the side. The popping crease is the most consequential: it determines whether a batter is safe in run-outs and stumpings, and whether a bowler has overstepped for a no-ball.
Example
The batter dives full length — bat stretched out — and the tip of the bat just makes it behind the popping crease before the ball hits the stumps, and the batter is given not out run out.
Why it matters
The crease defines the safety and legal zones for both batter and bowler. SwingVantage's cricket analysis (in development) will use crease geometry as a spatial reference for run-out probability and bowling-foot fault detection.
Related terms
- StumpsStumps are the three upright wooden posts — off stump, middle stump, and leg stump — that form each wicket in cricket, topped by two small bails that fall if the ball strikes them.
- No-BallA no-ball is an illegal delivery in cricket — most commonly when the bowler's front foot lands beyond the popping crease — resulting in one extra run and the delivery being re-bowled, and the batter cannot be dismissed (except run out).
- Run OutA run out occurs when a fielder hits the stumps with the ball while a batter is outside their crease while attempting a run, resulting in the batter being dismissed.
Put this into your swing
SwingVantage can spot this in your own swing — free to start.