Cricket · Rules explained
Cricket extras: wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes
A wide is a ball too far from the batter to hit, and a no-ball is an illegal delivery, usually a front-foot overstep. Both add 1 run, are bowled again and count against the bowler. Byes and leg byes are runs taken off a ball that missed the bat: byes when it touched nothing, leg byes when it hit the batter's body. They go in the team's extras but not against the bowler.
Wide vs no-ball: what is the difference?
A wide is about where the ball goes: it passes too far from the batter to be hit with a normal cricket shot. A no-ball is about how it was bowled. Most often the bowler's front foot lands with no part of it behind the popping crease, but a thrown delivery and a full toss above waist height are no-balls too.
| Wide | No-ball | |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty | 1 run | 1 run |
| Bowled again? | Yes, not one of the six | Yes, not one of the six |
| Runs taken from it | All scored as wides: a wide that runs away for four is 5 wides | Runs off the bat go to the batter: a no-ball hit for six is 7 |
| Charged to the bowler? | Yes, all of it | Yes, the penalty and any runs off the bat |
| A ball faced? | No | Yes |
Bye vs leg bye: what is the difference?
Both are runs the batters take when the ball did not touch the bat, off any delivery except a wide. The difference is what the ball hit on the way through:
- Bye: the ball touched neither bat nor batter, usually because it also beat the wicketkeeper.
- Leg bye: the ball hit the batter's body but not the bat. The batter must have tried to play the ball with the bat or tried to get out of its way. If not, the umpire calls dead ball and the runs do not count.
Off a legal delivery, both use up a ball of the over and count as a ball faced, and if the ball runs away to the boundary they score 4 byes or 4 leg byes. Neither is charged to the bowler, so they do not spoil a maiden over.
Off a wide, any runs the batters take are scored as wides, not byes. Off a no-ball, the 1-run penalty is a no-ball as usual and the runs taken are scored as byes or leg byes.
Who gets the runs: the batter, the bowler or extras?
Every run goes on the team total. The question is whose column it lands in:
| Ball | Batter | Bowler | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 off the bat | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Wide, no run taken | 0 | 1 | w 1 |
| Wide that runs away for four | 0 | 5 | w 5 |
| No-ball hit for six | 6 | 7 | nb 1 |
| No-ball, 2 byes run | 0 | 1 | nb 1, b 2 |
| 2 byes | 0 | 0 | b 2 |
| 4 leg byes | 0 | 0 | lb 4 |
| 5 penalty runs | 0 | 0 | pen 5 |
A scorecard gathers them on one line, such as Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 1, nb 1) 8. Because no-balls count as balls faced and wides do not, they also change a batter's strike rate differently; the strike rate and economy calculator handles both.
What is a free hit?
The ball after a no-ball is a free hit in ODIs and T20 internationals. On that ball the batter can only be out in the ways allowed off a no-ball, such as run out, so they can swing without fear of being bowled or caught. Under the ICC playing conditions:
- The fielding side may not change the field for the free hit, unless the batters have changed ends and the other batter is now on strike.
- If the free hit is itself a wide or a no-ball, the next ball is a free hit too.
- Test matches have no free hit, and the Laws of Cricket have none either, so a club match only uses it if the league's rules say so.
The Hundred uses the same free hit, and from 2026 the same 1-run no-ball; see The Hundred rules.
An over with all four extras
Watch the Overs column: the wide and the no-ball do not move it on.
| Ball | Delivery | Score | Overs | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 byes | 2/0 | 0.1 | Legal ball 1. The ball beats bat, body and wicketkeeper: 2 byes, not charged to the bowler. |
| 2 | Wide (1 run, bowled again) | 3/0 | 0.1 | Not a legal ball: 1 wide, charged to the bowler. |
| 3 | No-ball (5 runs, bowled again) | 8/0 | 0.1 | 1 no-ball run plus 4 to the batter, all 5 charged to the bowler. The next ball is a free hit in ODIs and T20Is. |
| 4 | 1 off the bat | 9/0 | 0.2 | Legal ball 2, the free hit: a single. |
| 5 | 4 leg byes | 13/0 | 0.3 | Legal ball 3. Off the pad as the batter plays a shot, and away to the boundary: not charged to the bowler. |
| 6 | Dot ball | 13/0 | 0.4 | Legal ball 4. |
| 7 | Wicket | 13/1 | 0.5 | Legal ball 5. Bowled: the wicket goes to the bowler. |
| 8 | 2 off the bat | 15/1 | 1.0 | Legal ball 6 completes the over. |
Total 15/1: 7 off the bat and 8 extras (b 2, lb 4, w 1, nb 1). The bowler is charged 9 runs, the 7 off the bat plus the wide and the no-ball, and takes the wicket: 1-0-9-1.
How the app handles it
Sport Score Tracker has Wide and No-ball buttons: each adds 1 run and the ball is bowled again, so the over does not advance. It does not record runs on top of that penalty, so 5 wides or a no-ball hit for four cannot be entered exactly, and it does not track free hits. There are no separate bye and leg-bye buttons: byes and leg byes entered with the run buttons count as runs off the bat in the stats. With Pro, the match stats split extras into wides and no-balls.
Questions
Can you be out on a no-ball?
Yes, but only three ways: run out, hit the ball twice or obstructing the field. A batter cannot be bowled, caught, lbw, stumped or out hit wicket off a no-ball.
Can you be stumped off a wide?
Yes. Off a wide the striker can be stumped or out hit wicket, and either batter can be run out or out for obstructing the field. The 1-run wide penalty still counts.
Is a no-ball 1 run or 2 runs?
1 run under the Laws of Cricket and in ICC internationals, plus any runs scored off it. The Hundred charged 2 runs for a no-ball up to 2025, but its 2026 playing conditions use the 1-run penalty.
Last reviewed September 25, 2026
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