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Glite Dictionary
opening batsman

opening batsman

7.9
A player who starts the team's turn to hit the ball and faces the first bowlers
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : abridor
  • The coach praised the young opening batsman for his aggressive style at the crease.

Examples

  • As the opening batsman, she set a confident tone for her team's innings.

  • The opening batsman scored a quick fifty, giving the team a strong start in the match.

  • He is the best opening batsman in the village.

    Fiction book (1995)

How Skilled

opening batsman
  • Jargon
7.9

Surface Forms

opening batsman singular
opening batsmen plural

Morphology

opening + batsman

The meaning 'the player who is among the first to bat' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'opening' (first/start) with 'batsman' (a player who bats). This compositional pattern (modifier indicating position + role noun) is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should understand the expression.

Etymology

Opening batsman comes from cricket: opening means 'to start' and a batsman is the player with the bat, so an opening batsman is the player who starts the team's turn to bat. That's why this player faces the first bowlers and helps 'set the tone' for the whole innings.