Devil's NUmber

In Australian cricket, the score of 87 is regarded as unlucky, hence, the term devil’s number. Batsmen tend to be dismissed for getting a score of 87 according to the Australian superstition belief. In English, the slang terminology for it is called Nelson. It is a superstition belief concerning a number that is traditionally considered as unlucky.

Origin of Devil’s Number

In December 1929, a young boy named Keith Miller was watching a Sheffield Shield Match and rooting for his hero, Don Bradman, known as Australia’s greatest cricketer. During the match, Bradman was bowled neck on 87 by Harry Alexander. Miller could not believe that such an incident could happen to his hero. Because of this incident, he became fixated with the number and would often search through newspapers for any scorecards related to cricket that features the unlucky figure.

When another cricketer with the name Ian Johnson got dismissed on 87, Miller took the opportunity to tell the famous incident of Bradman stating his theory. Although it was revealed that Bradman was bowled for 89 and not 87, the damage was already done and the number 87 will remain forever as the devil’s number.

Other Factors that Causes Devil’s Number

Aside from the superstition belief behind the unlucky number 87, it does not help that having the number means that the player is 13 runs short of a century. In an international game, whenever an Australian cricketer gets 87 runs, people would start speculating, especially if the cricketer gets dismissed. To run a century, the player needs 13 more runs to achieve the score. However, if the batsman gets dismissed with having 87 runs in his scorecard, the score is considered unlucky.

Devil’s Number: A Myth

The batsman need not be afraid of superstition upon achieving the score of 87 runs. In fact, renowned statistician Ric Finlay believed that the number 87 is only a myth as being a devil's number. To get to the bottom of this argument, Finlay did some work and found out that the number of players being dismissed was just 12 Australian players.In fact, 85 has the highest number of runs that get a batsman dismissed totals to 22. That is 10 more players getting dismissed than having the number 87. So players need not worry about the number 87 being unlucky.