star opening batsman
- noun
- Jargon
- The team relied heavily on their star opening batsman to set a strong foundation for the innings.
Examples
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After the retirement of their star opening batsman, the team struggled to find a suitable replacement.
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Every young cricketer dreams of becoming the star opening batsman for their country one day.
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Virat Kohli is a star opening batsman for India.
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The team relies on its star opening batsman to set a strong tone.
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Every young cricketer dreams of becoming the star opening batsman for their country one day.
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The team relied heavily on their star opening batsman to set a strong foundation for the innings.
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After the retirement of their star opening batsman, the team struggled to find a suitable replacement.
How Skilled
- Jargon
- Jargon
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'opening batsman' straightforwardly means a batsman who bats first, and 'star' denotes a highly regarded or excellent player, so together they yield 'the leading/best player who bats first.' The modifier structure and literal meanings of the constituents make this meaning predictable to a B1 learner who knows the words (assuming basic knowledge of the sport), so it is transparent.
Etymology
The phrase star opening batsman comes from the image of a bright star leading the way and the player who opens the innings as a batsman. In cricket the opening batsman goes first to face the bowlers and try to set the tone for the team. So a star opening batsman is the top player chosen to go first to give the team a 'strong start'.