dot ball

British

noun

cricket a ball from which a run is not scored

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of dot ball

when no run is scored, the scorer places a dot in his or her record book

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His dot ball percentage in reaching three figures was the second lowest in any of his 19 ODI tons.

From BBC

A wide and a dot ball followed after which Cox, who was left out of England's white-ball squads on Friday, played an audacious reverse scoop over third man to the seamer's final ball.

From BBC

It was the first time an opening pair has hit back-to-back hundreds in the history of the format - men's and women's - and the hosts relentlessly punished West Indies' inexperienced bowling attack which struggled to build any consistency or dot ball pressure throughout.

From BBC

They had a dot ball percentage of 37.4%, nearly 10% lower than New Zealand's 47%, which is the next best in the competition.

From BBC

Batting demands relentless stroke play, where even a dot ball is unacceptable.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023