The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket. It is the side of the field that corresponds to the batsman's non-dominant hand, from their perspective.
From the point of view of a right-handed batsman facing the bowler, it is the left hand side of the cricket field (being to the bowler's right). With a left-handed batsman the on side is to the batsman's right (and to the bowler's left).
A cricket field is notionally divided into two halves, by an imaginary line running down the long axis of the pitch. In normal batting stance, the striking batsman stands side on to the bowler. The leg side is the half of the field behind the batsman. The half of the field in front of him is called the off side.
In the picture, the bowler is bowling from the bottom half of the image, the right-handed batsman (S), facing him sideways on, has his legs more on the right side of the picture, the leg-side. If the ball goes down that side of the pitch it will be "on" the batsman's legs, the on side.
Fielding positions
The definition is relative to the batsman. If the batsman were to directly face the bowler, the leg side would be:
on the left side for a right-handed batsman, but
on the right side for a left-handed batsman.
The leg side is usually less well defended with fielders than the off side, because of the typical line of attack of the bowlers, which is frequently on or outside off stump. This makes it more difficult to hit the ball to the leg side because it involves swinging the bat across the line of the ball, which can lead to mishits and catches.
While the terms "leg side" and "on side" can refer to an entire half of the field, each term is often used to denote only part of this half. When the batsman plays the ball into this half in front of the wicket, it is usually said that the ball has been played to the on side. However, when the ball is played into the region level with or behind the wicket, it is said that the ball has been played to the leg side. The names of fielding positions often include the words "leg" or "on", and they reflect this convention. For example, fine leg is located behind the wicket, whereas mid on is located in front of it. When the batsman steps backwards from his normal batting stance on the crease as the ball is bowled, he is said to be moving towards the leg side.
Since the leg side comprises the half of the field behind the batsman, with a right-handed batsman it is roughly analogous to the half of the baseball field that includes left field and third base. With a left-handed batsman, the leg side is analogous to the half that includes right field and first base. Thus hitting to the leg side is directly visually analogous to "pull" hitting in baseball (though since all fair territory in baseball is forward of the batter, "on" would more exactly match this area of the field). Conversely, off is analogous to baseball's "opposite-field" hitting.
side, this, article, does, cite, sources, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, april, 2009, learn, when, remove, this, temp. This article does not cite any sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Leg side news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message The leg side or on side is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket It is the side of the field that corresponds to the batsman s non dominant hand from their perspective From the point of view of a right handed batsman facing the bowler it is the left hand side of the cricket field being to the bowler s right With a left handed batsman the on side is to the batsman s right and to the bowler s left A cricket field is notionally divided into two halves by an imaginary line running down the long axis of the pitch In normal batting stance the striking batsman stands side on to the bowler The leg side is the half of the field behind the batsman The half of the field in front of him is called the off side In the picture the bowler is bowling from the bottom half of the image the right handed batsman S facing him sideways on has his legs more on the right side of the picture the leg side If the ball goes down that side of the pitch it will be on the batsman s legs the on side Fielding positions The definition is relative to the batsman If the batsman were to directly face the bowler the leg side would be on the left side for a right handed batsman but on the right side for a left handed batsman The leg side is usually less well defended with fielders than the off side because of the typical line of attack of the bowlers which is frequently on or outside off stump This makes it more difficult to hit the ball to the leg side because it involves swinging the bat across the line of the ball which can lead to mishits and catches While the terms leg side and on side can refer to an entire half of the field each term is often used to denote only part of this half When the batsman plays the ball into this half in front of the wicket it is usually said that the ball has been played to the on side However when the ball is played into the region level with or behind the wicket it is said that the ball has been played to the leg side The names of fielding positions often include the words leg or on and they reflect this convention For example fine leg is located behind the wicket whereas mid on is located in front of it When the batsman steps backwards from his normal batting stance on the crease as the ball is bowled he is said to be moving towards the leg side Comparison with baseball EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Since the leg side comprises the half of the field behind the batsman with a right handed batsman it is roughly analogous to the half of the baseball field that includes left field and third base With a left handed batsman the leg side is analogous to the half that includes right field and first base Thus hitting to the leg side is directly visually analogous to pull hitting in baseball though since all fair territory in baseball is forward of the batter on would more exactly match this area of the field Conversely off is analogous to baseball s opposite field hitting See also EditCricket terminology Off side Fielding cricket Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Leg side amp oldid 1067229115, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
