1. Home
2. Idioms
3. not cricket

not cricket

---

---

not cricket

Unfair, unsportsmanlike, as in It's not cricket to let him go without notice. This term, in which the sport of cricket is equated with upright behavior, survives in America despite the relative unfamiliarity of the sport there. [Mid-1800s]

See also: cricket, not

not cricket

mod. unfair; illegitimate; unorthodox. (See affirmative examples at cricket.) What do you mean it’s not cricket? You do it.

See also: cricket, not