No-Balls, Wides and the Free Hit Explained

Edited by Nayan Makvana · Last reviewed 24 October 2026

No-balls and wides are the two kinds of illegal delivery. Neither counts as one of the six balls in an over, each costs a penalty run, and each limits how a batter can be dismissed. This guide follows Laws 21 and 22 of the MCC Laws (2026 edition) and the extra rules the ICC applies in internationals, including the free hit.

What a no-ball costs

• One penalty run, recorded as a no-ball extra against the bowler. It stands even if a batter is then run out, and any runs the batters take are added on top: to the striker if the ball was hit with the bat, as byes or leg byes if not.
• An extra delivery, because a no-ball is not one of the six balls of the over.
• Limited dismissals. Off a no-ball neither batter can be out except run out, hit the ball twice or obstructing the field.
• A free hit next ball in ODIs and T20Is, explained below.

The bowler's feet

In the delivery stride the back foot must land within, and not touching, the return crease on the side the bowler said they would bowl from. The front foot must land with some part of it, grounded or raised, behind the popping crease, and on the same side of the middle-stump line as that return crease. Because the popping crease is the back edge of the painted line, a front foot on the line is legal if part of it is behind that edge.

In international cricket the TV umpire checks the front foot on every delivery and tells the bowler's end umpire, who calls the no-ball. A bowler who oversteps on purpose is treated as acting unfairly: they are suspended from bowling immediately and may not bowl again in the match.

Height: full tosses and bouncers

Full tosses above the waist

Any delivery that passes, or would have passed, above the waist of the batter standing upright at the crease without bouncing is a no-ball. If the umpire also judges it dangerous, the bowler gets a first and final warning, and a second dangerous one in the innings means removal from the attack for the rest of the innings. A deliberate beamer means immediate removal: for the rest of the match under the 2026 Laws, for the rest of the innings under the ICC's international playing conditions.

Bouncers

The Laws leave short-pitched bowling to the umpire's judgement of what is dangerous or unfair. International cricket adds a fixed limit on fast short deliveries, balls that pass or would have passed above the shoulder of the batter standing upright at the crease:

Each one over the limit is a no-ball. The first such breach in an innings also brings a caution, the second a final warning and the third removal from the attack for the rest of the innings. Under the ICC playing conditions, a ball that bounces over the batter's head, out of reach of a normal shot, is a wide rather than a no-ball, and it still counts towards the over's allowance. The Laws have treated it the same way since 1 October 2026; before that edition, a ball bouncing over head height was a no-ball under the Laws. Head-high bouncers bowled repeatedly can still be called no-ball as unfair bowling.

The other kinds of no-ball

• Throwing: straightening the elbow once the bowling arm reaches shoulder height. In internationals an action is illegal if the elbow extends by more than 15 degrees.
• Changing arm, or switching between over and round the wicket, without telling the umpire.
• Underarm bowling, unless agreed before the match; never in internationals.
• Breaking the wicket in delivery: the bowler, or anything falling from them, hitting the stumps at their end between the start of the run-up and the stride after delivery, unless they were running out the non-striker.
• The ball bouncing more than once or rolling before it reaches the popping crease, or landing wholly or partly off the pitch.
• The ball stopping in front of the striker, or passing so wide that the striker would have to leave the pitch to reach it.
• A fielder touching the ball before it reaches the batter or passes the stumps.
• The wicket-keeper not being wholly behind the stumps from release until the ball reaches the batter, passes the stumps or the striker sets off for a run. Since October 2026 the keeper's gloves may be in front of the stumps during the run-up.
• More than two fielders behind square on the leg side, not counting the keeper.
• A fielder on or over the pitch before the ball reaches the batter.
• Fielding-restriction breaches in limited-overs cricket; see the powerplay guide.

Wides

A wide is a delivery the batter could not reach with a normal cricket stroke. The umpire judges it against where the batter is standing (and, under the Laws, anywhere they have stood since the bowler began the run-up) and against a normal batting position, and it is a wide only if it is out of reach on both. It is not a wide if the batter's own movement brings the ball within reach or takes them out of reach of it, or if it touches the bat or the batter's body.

The penalty is one run, and all runs taken off a wide, including a boundary, are recorded as wides and charged to the bowler. A wide is not one of the six balls of the over. Off a wide the striker can still be stumped or out hit wicket, and either batter can be run out or out obstructing the field.

Stricter in limited-overs cricket

In ODIs and T20Is the ICC instructs umpires to apply a very strict and consistent interpretation of the wide law, to stop negative bowling out of the batter's reach, and guide lines may be painted on the crease. Deliveries drifting down the leg side or well outside off stump are therefore called wide more readily than in a Test, although Test umpires apply the same strict standard to negative leg-side bowling and to bowlers aiming at the rough outside leg stump.

ODIs and T20Is also judge leg-side wides against the position of the batter's legs at the moment of delivery, a rule trialled from October 2025 and made permanent in October 2026 to give bowlers some leeway when a batter moves around the crease.

The free hit

In ODIs and T20Is the delivery after any no-ball is a free hit. Off it the striker can be out only in the ways that apply to a no-ball, run out, hit the ball twice or obstructing the field, even if the free-hit delivery is itself a wide. If the free-hit delivery is a no-ball or a wide, the next ball is a free hit too.

• No field changes unless a different batter is now on strike, or the no-ball was for a fielding-restriction breach, which may then be corrected.
• The bowler may change mode, for example to round the wicket, if the umpire is told.
• The signal is one arm raised straight up and moved in a circle, after the no-ball signal.
• Hitting the stumps does not end a free hit: the striker is not out, the ball stays live and the batters may run.

Free hits came into one-day internationals in October 2007, at first only after front-foot no-balls. Since 5 July 2015 every kind of no-ball in ODIs and T20Is has been followed by one. There is no free hit in Test cricket.

Common questions

Can a delivery be both a no-ball and a wide?

No. If both apply, the no-ball call overrides the wide, and the delivery is scored as a no-ball.

Why do some overs have more than six deliveries?

Because wides and no-balls are not counted among the six legal balls. An over containing two wides and a no-ball has nine deliveries.

On a scorecard, wides and no-balls appear under extras as w and nb; the scorecard guide explains the notation.