Sunday Times Cryptic Crossword 4278?

Question

'A hard ball upsetting what the batsman hoped to get' (3)

I'm pretty sure I have N - R which must be RUN backwards.

Any ideas why?

Answer 1

the answers to this question may help

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

Answer 2

The answer is nur and below is the reason why.

"a hard ball" is the straight clue = nur

"upsetting what the batsman hoped to get" = run =upset run (turn it back to front) and you get nur.

nur -

a hard knot in wood

a hard k**b of wood used by boys in playing hockey.