A Masonic rite to purge "the Magick of ill omen" from the number 111. Note the arrangement of the candles.

Cricket being one of the more statistics driven sports, the importance attached to certain numbers is a logical extension of said stat hunger and is also consistent with the superstitious nature of the sport, or more accurately, the sportsmen and women who participate.

Cricket numerology is considered to have profound psychological effects on cricketers. It can be considered as a mild variant of numerophobia. Some numbers are specific to one nationality (e.g. 87 to Australians is thought to be unlucky because it is 13 short of 100, 100 being a universally accepted benign, or "shining" number.

Most of the numbers involved are only relevant to the batting side of cricket, that aspect being the one most prone to superstition and of those that apply to bowling, very few are negative or "black".

Magic and rite

Cricket numerology categorizes numbers as either "shining" (benign or favourable numbers, also known as "sacred") or "black" (numbers of ill omen, black derived from "black magic". Publicly, the use of black as a descriptive of negative forces, is frowned upon (politically incorrect) and generally replaced with generic terminology, like "naughty" or "dreaded" although the latter term is also, increasingly, falling into disrepute as it is thought to cause offence to Rastafarians.

Masonic law (excluding the International Order of Water Buffalos, who refuse to recognize cricket) protects chapter members from the adverse effects of "black" numerology by prohibiting their usage in scorebooks and scoreboards, dependant on a fellow brother being in a position to do so. They may also undergo rites to purge what is known as "The Magick of ill Omen" from numbers within the black canon.
Note: Masonic law prohibits the capitalizing of the letter i in "ill Omen" because in most modern sans serif font faces the word ill (capitalized) resembles "Nelson" (see below for explanation) 111 - Ill.

The 666 Curse

Being one of the more widely recognized examples of "black" numerology, the number 666, with all of it's Biblical connotations, is also a "black" number in the cricket world, although in a rather unique way.

The (not inconsiderable) feat of a batsman hitting six sixes off six consecutive deliveries (in the same over) has rarely been accomplished and only three times in the history of 1st class cricket, the most recent occurrence being during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, by Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa against the Netherlands. The only other men to do six sixes were Sir Garfield Sobers and Ravi Shastri.

All three men suffered, in the time following their achievement, a succession of personal attacks relating to their sexuality when it was noticed that all three had "girly" 1st names. Ravi Shastri was affected most severely and indeed went so far as to undergo gender transformation, changing his name to Ravish. Her subsequent career in the adult entertainment industry has restored some sense of normality to her life. Gibbs and Sobers have not fared well, Gibbs has struggled for form and Sobers became an old man.

A variant of the 666, hitting 3 consecutive sixes in an over following 3 dot balls, is considered as life threatening.

Examples of "shining" numbers

1 - a batsman off the mark, a first wicket

4 - a boundary worth 4 runs

5 - 5 wickets for a bowler is seen as a significant landmark. Known colloquially as a "Michelle" (from Michelle Pfieffer, pronounced "five-fer") 

6 - a boundary worth 6 runs

50 - a half century, a batting landmark

100 - a ton, the ultimate "shining" number. Additional hundreds (200,300 etc) whilst significant landmarks in themselves, are attributed a lesser status being mere multiples of the original ton.

101 - the only example known of a team specific "shining" number, Aberdeenshire Grades Association club, Stonehaven Thistle, being the beneficiary. When 101 (one over the ton) is the final innings total (of any of the two sides) in a match involving Stonehaven Thistle, Stonehaven win. (see "The Church of Clive").

Examples of "black" numbers

0 - the Anti-number for batsmen, specifically, commonly called a duck (from duck egg, the shape, roughly of a zero in most font types) or goose egg (for similar reasons).

87 - 100 (the ultimate "shining" number) minus 13. Only applicable to Australasians.

101 - See corresponding entry in "shining" numbers.

111 - or "Nelson", the name, applied to team or individual scores of 111, 222 etc, is thought to refer to Lord Nelson's lost eye, arm and leg (Nelson actually had both of his legs intact, the third missing body part is mythical). Also, some consider that '111' represents the three stumps without the bails, which symbolizes being out.

666 - see "The 666 Curse" above.