Wicket

The wicket was the object of central focus in the sport of cricket. Comprised of three stumps and two bails, it was the thing that batsmen were guarding and the thing bowlers were attacking. Batsmen were dismissed if the bowler made the bails fall off the stumps by sending his ball past the batsman into the wicket.

Wicket was also a synonym for the cricket pitch itself, as Lord Charles Cranleigh made clear when he called the pitch on the Cranleigh Hall ground "green". (TV: Black Orchid)