No ball

In the sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

 of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run

Run (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...

 (or occasionally two, depending upon the competition) to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled

Bowling (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...

. In addition, the number of ways in which the batsman can be given out is reduced except for run out. In twenty20

Twenty20

Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...

 and recently one-day cricket matches, a batsman receives a 'free hit' on the ball after any foot fault no balls (see below). This means the batsman can freely hit the ball with no danger of being out in certain ways. No balls are not uncommon, especially in short form cricket

Short form cricket

Short form cricket is a collective term for several modified forms of the sport of cricket, with playing times significantly shorter than more traditional forms of the game....

, and fast bowlers tend to bowl them more often than spin bowlers, due to their longer run-up.

What constitutes a no ball

A no ball may be called for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, it is the result of a bowler breaking one of the first two rules below (a front foot no ball or back foot no ball). Dangerous deliveries (beamers

Beamer (cricket)

In the terminology of the game of cricket, a beamer is a type of delivery in which the ball , without bouncing, passes above the batsman's waist height. Such a ball is often dangerously close to the batsman's head, due to the lack of control a bowler has over high full tosses...

) are another common reason. If the front foot of a bowler lands inside the crease and slides outside of the crease, then it is not stated as a no ball. However, if foot lands outside the crease, it is given as a no ball automatically.

An umpire

Umpire (cricket)

In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...

 will rule a no ball under any of the following conditions:

Illegal action by the bowler

• If the bowler bowls without some part of the front foot either grounded or in the air behind the popping crease
• If the bowler bowls more than one ball above the head height in a over.
• If the bowler bowls with the back foot not wholly inside the return crease.
• If the bowler throws, rather than bowls
  Bowling (cricket)
  In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...
  
  , the ball
  Cricket ball
  A cricket ball is a hard, solid leather ball used to play cricket. Constructed of cork and leather, a cricket ball is heavily regulated by cricket law at first class level...
  
  . (See bowling
  Bowling (cricket)
  In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...
  
   for an explanation.)
• If the bowler changes the arm with which he bowls without notifying the umpire.
• If the bowler changes the side of the wicket
  Wicket
  In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
  
   from which he bowls without notifying the umpire.
• If the bowler bowls underarm
  Underarm bowling
  In cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself. Until the introduction of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th century, bowling was performed in the same way as in bowls, the ball being delivered with the hand below the waist...
  
   unless this style of delivery is agreed before the match.
• If the bowler throws the ball towards the striker's wicket before entering the "delivery stride".
• If the ball does not touch the ground in its flight between the wickets and reaches the batsman at a height above either his waist when delivered by a fast bowler
  Fast bowling
  Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
  
   (this delivery is called a 'Beamer') or the shoulder when delivered by a slow bowler
  Spin bowling
  Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
  
  .
• If the ball bounces more than twice, or rolls along the ground, before reaching the popping crease at the striker's end. However, the ECB has ruled that in certain competitions in England the ball is only allowed to bounce once.
• If the ball comes to rest in front of the line of the striker's wicket.

Illegal action by a fielder

• If the wicket keeper moves any part of his person in front of the line of the stumps before either a) the ball strikes the batsman's person or bat; or b) the ball passes the line of the stumps.
• If a fielder (not including bowler) has any part of their body grounded or in the air over the pitch.
• If there are more than two fielders that are on the leg side and behind the batsman's crease.
• Under certain playing conditions, further restrictions apply to the placement of fielders. For example in One Day International cricket, there can be no more than five fielders a) on the on side; and b) outside the 30m circle.

Effects of a no ball

The umpire signals a no ball by holding one arm out horizontally. If the call is for illegal placement of the bowler's feet, the umpire will also shout "No ball", to give the batsman some warning that the ball is an illegal delivery. Depending on the speed of the delivery and the batsman's reactions, the batsman may then be able to play a more aggressive shot at the delivery safe in the knowledge that he cannot be dismissed so easily by a no ball: a batsman may not be given out bowled, leg before wicket

Leg before wicket

In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...

, caught, stumped or hit wicket off a no ball. (In some types of short form cricket

Short form cricket

Short form cricket is a collective term for several modified forms of the sport of cricket, with playing times significantly shorter than more traditional forms of the game....

 the batsman may not be out by these methods on the following ball either - such deliveries are known as free hit

Free hit

Free hit is a cricket terminology, relevant in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 matches. When a bowler bowls a foot-fault no ball , in the immediate next ball, the batsman cannot be ruled out in any dismissal modes other than; run out, handled the ball, hit the ball twice and obstructing the field...

s. These only come into play after a foot fault no ball.) However, he can still be dismissed for a run out, handling the ball,hitting the ball twice, or obstructing the field.

A no ball does not count as one of the six balls in an over, but it counts as a ball faced by the batsman.

When a no ball is bowled, a number of runs are awarded to the batting team, the number varying depending on local playing conditions in force. In Test cricket and One Day International cricket the award is one run; in some domestic competitions, particularly one-day cricket competitions, the award is two runs. These runs are scored as extra

Extra (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, an extra is a run scored by a means other than a batsman hitting the ball.Other than runs scored off the bat from a no ball, a batsman is not given credit for extras and the extras are tallied separately on the scorecard and count only towards the team's score...

s and are added to the batting team's total, but are not added to any batsman's total. For scoring, no balls are considered to be the fault of the bowler (even if the infringement was committed by a fielder), and since the early 1980s, are recorded as a negative statistic in a bowler's record.

If the batsman hits the ball he may take runs as normal. These are scored as runs by the batsman, as normal. Runs may also be scored without the batsman hitting the ball, but these are recorded as no ball extras rather than bye

Bye (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a bye is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batsman and the ball has not hit the batsman's body.-Scoring byes:...

s or leg bye

Leg bye

In the sport of cricket, a leg bye is a run scored by the batting team when the batsman has not hit the ball with his bat, but the ball has hit the batsman's body or protective gear.-Scoring leg byes:...

s.

If a ball qualifies as a no ball and a wide, the umpire will call it a no ball, rather than a wide.

See also

Pakistan cricket spot-fixing controversy, in which no balls were deliberately bowled as part of a betting scam