No Ball, Free Hit and Wide Interpreter

What each call actually costs: the penalty, whether the ball counts towards the six, who it is debited to and which dismissals survive it. One delivery — a ball over the striker’s head — is called three different things by three documents all current on 12 October 2026.

The four calls, side by side

One delivery, three documents, three answers

What a call costs, and the one delivery nobody agrees about

Four calls cover almost everything that goes wrong with a delivery, and the four behave differently in four separate ways: whether there is a penalty, whether the ball counts towards the six in the over, whether the runs are debited to the bowler, and which dismissals survive the call. Getting any one of them wrong changes a scorebook, and the fourth one changes matches.

A no ball brings one run, awarded instantly on the call (Law 21.15) and standing even if a batter is dismissed. Law 21.16 makes it a No ball extra debited against the bowler, and Law 21.17 is flat: “A No ball shall not count as one of the over”. So a no ball costs the bowler a run and buys them nothing — the delivery comes round again, and an over can contain eight deliveries while still being six balls. Law 21.18 then cuts the dismissals down to three: hit the ball twice (Law 34), obstructing the field (Law 37) and run out (Law 38). A batter cannot be bowled, caught, stumped or given out LBW off a no ball.

A wide looks the same and is not. One run on the call (Law 22.6), and Law 22.7 is the broadest debit clause in the Laws: “Apart from any 5 Penalty runs, all runs from a Wide are debited against the bowler”. Law 22.8 keeps the delivery out of the six. But Law 22.9 allows a different set of dismissals — hit wicket (Law 35), obstructing the field (Law 37), run out (Law 38) and stumped (Law 39). So a batter can be stumped off a wide and not off a no ball, and can be out hit the ball twice off a no ball and not off a wide. The call can also be taken back: Law 22.3.1 revokes a wide if the ball touches the striker’s bat or person before any fielder, and Law 22.3.2 revokes it if the delivery is a no ball, because a no ball over-rides a wide.

Byes and leg byes are the mirror image: no penalty, the delivery counts as one of the six, and the runs are not debited to the bowler at all. A bye is a delivery that passes the striker without touching bat or person, credited as Byes to the batting side (Law 23.1). A leg bye is a run taken after the ball has struck the striker’s body, and Law 23.2.1 allows it only where the umpire is satisfied the striker tried to play the ball or tried to avoid being hit; if neither applies, Law 23.3 takes the runs away, returns any not-out batter to their original end and the umpire calls Dead ball. Worth knowing that Law 23 does not say byes and leg byes are not debited to the bowler — it says where the runs are credited and is silent about the bowler — so that universally followed rule is scoring practice rather than a Law. It is why four byes can run away through the keeper’s legs and the over is still a maiden, which the bowling figures and maiden overs calculator works through.

The free hit is the thing most readers come looking for and it is not in the Laws at all. Law 21 as read for this page does not mention one. It is a playing condition: ICC Men’s ODI Playing Conditions clause 21.19.1 makes the delivery following a no ball — “all modes of No ball”, not just overstepping — a free hit for whichever batter faces it, and if the free-hit delivery is itself a no ball or a wide, the next delivery is a free hit too. Clause 21.19.2 is the surprising part: on a free hit the striker “can be dismissed only under the circumstances that apply for a No ball, even if the delivery for the free hit is called Wide”. A batter on a free hit therefore cannot be bowled or caught, however legal the next ball is. Clause 21.19.3 bars field changes on a free hit except on a change of striker or to correct the fielding-restriction breach that caused the no ball in the first place.

Which leaves the one delivery nobody agrees about. A ball bouncing over the striker’s head used to be a no ball, and the individual Law 21 page published at lords.org still lists it that way at 21.10 — a page that carries a 2017 copyright line and was read in that form on 12 October 2026. The ICC had already moved: clause 22.1.1.2 of its Men’s One-Day International Playing Conditions, effective from July 2025, adjudges a Wide where the ball passes above the head height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease, and reduces its own 21.10 to a cross-reference. The MCC followed on 1 October 2026: Law 22.1.3 of the 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026) makes it a Wide, one of 73 changes in that edition. Three documents, two answers, and the superseded one still on the governing body’s own website eleven days after the change. If your competition’s regulations adopt the 3rd Edition — the ECB’s 20-over playing conditions say they apply with the Laws of Cricket 2017 Code 3rd Edition (2022) — then the older wording is the one you are playing under.

The Laws of Cricket got a new edition eleven days before this page was written, and that matters for every Law quoted on it. The MCC’s 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026) came into force on 1 October 2026 with 73 changes to the 3rd Edition (2022); its PDF carries “© Marylebone Cricket Club 2026” and a preface signed 1 October 2026. The individual Law pages published at lords.org still carry a 2017 copyright line and in at least one place still print the superseded text. So every Law on this page is printed with the document it was actually read from on 12 October 2026 — the 4th Edition’s own PDF, the MCC’s published list of the 73 changes, or an individual Law page at lords.org — and where those disagree, or where a Law’s text could not be read at all, the page says which. A competition’s playing conditions may modify any Law, and several do.

From here, the dismissal methods interpreter takes the ten methods of dismissal one at a time and says which survive a no ball and which survive a wide, and the partnership and run contribution calculator explains why extras mean two batters’ scores never add up to their partnership. The bowling economy, average and strike rate calculator takes the runs debited to the bowler and turns them into the three bowling rates.

Frequently asked questions

Related calculators

References

1. Marylebone Cricket Club. The Laws of Cricket (2017 Code 4th Edition – 2026), official PDF — Law 14.1.1 (a lead of 200 runs in a two-innings match of 5 days or more), 14.1.2 (150 runs for 3 or 4 days, 100 for 2 days, 75 for 1 day), 14.2 (notification, after which the decision cannot be changed), 14.3 (first day’s play lost); Laws 15.1–15.2 (declaration and forfeiture); and the contents list of Laws 1 to 42, from which the nine dismissal Laws 32 to 40 and retired out at Law 25.4 are taken. Title page “© Marylebone Cricket Club 2026”, preface signed 1 October 2026. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). The extracted text stops inside Law 21.11, so Laws 22 to 42 were read from the individual Law pages instead.
2. Marylebone Cricket Club. Changes to the Laws of Cricket for the 2026 edition — 73 changes to the 4th Edition of the 2017 Code, effective 1 October 2026. Law 22.1.3 makes a delivery bouncing over the striker’s head height a Wide rather than a No ball; Law 37.1.3 is new; Laws 21.6, 21.7, 21.9, 21.12, 23.3, 32.1.2, 33.2.2, 34.3, 34.4, 35.2 and 17.5.2 are altered. Law 14 is not among the 73. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). The extracted text is garbled in places and names a fuller companion document that was not fetched.
3. Marylebone Cricket Club. Law 21 – No ball, individual Law page — headings 21.1 to 21.18, including 21.10 “Ball bouncing over head height of striker” as a No ball; 21.15 (one run awarded instantly), 21.16 (the penalty is a No ball extra debited against the bowler), 21.17 (“A No ball shall not count as one of the over”), 21.18 (out off a No ball only under Laws 34, 37 and 38). The Law does not mention a free hit. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). This page prints 3rd-Edition (2022) text: the 4th Edition moves the head-height delivery to Law 22.1.3 as a Wide.
4. Marylebone Cricket Club. Law 22 – Wide ball, individual Law page — 22.1.1–22.1.2 (judging a Wide), 22.3.1–22.3.2 (revoking), 22.4.1–22.4.2 (not a Wide), 22.6 (one run awarded instantly), 22.7 “Apart from any 5 Penalty runs, all runs from a Wide are debited against the bowler”, 22.8 (“A Wide shall not count as one of the over”), 22.9 (out off a Wide only under Laws 35, 37, 38 and 39). lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). This page does not mention head height anywhere, which is how the staleness of the individual Law pages was established rather than assumed.
5. Marylebone Cricket Club. Law 23 – Bye and Leg bye, individual Law page — 23.1 (a Bye is a delivery, not a Wide, that passes the striker untouched, and the runs are credited as Byes to the batting side), 23.2.1 (leg byes count only if the umpire is satisfied the striker tried to play the ball or to avoid being hit), 23.2.2.1 and 23.2.3 (runs not credited to the striker are scored as Leg byes), 23.3 (Leg byes not to be awarded). lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). The Law does not say whether byes or leg byes are debited against the bowler.
6. International Cricket Council. ICC Men’s One-Day International Playing Conditions, “Effective from July 2025” — 12.8.1 (“The minimum over rate to be achieved in ODI Matches shall be 14.28 overs per hour”), 13.8.2 (the in-match penalty: from the next over after the cessation time, no more than 4 fielders outside the fielding restriction area for the rest of the innings), 13.8.5, 16.3.1 and 16.3.1.1 (equal scores bring a Super Over; a tied Super Over brings further Super Overs unless paragraph 25 of Appendix G applies; where none can produce a winner the match is tied), 21.10 (a cross-reference), 21.15–21.18, 21.19.1–21.19.3 (the free hit), 22.1.1.2 (a Wide where the ball passes above the head height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease), 22.6–22.9. images.icc-cricket.com (read 12 Oct 2026). The extracted text stops inside clause 23, so clause 28.7.2.3 and Appendix G were not read.
7. New South Wales Cricket Umpires’ and Scorers’ Association. Cricket Scoring: The Basics and Beyond, September 2022 revision — “Maiden over – when a bowler bowls an over that does not have any runs scored off it”, and immediately after it “It can have byes and leg byes and still be a maiden as these are not scored against the bowler”. The Byes and Leg byes sections both say “These runs do not count as runs against the bowler”; penalty runs are not debited either. The Table of Dismissals lists ten methods, with the bowler credited for bowled, caught, hit wicket, LBW and stumped and not for hit the ball twice, obstructing the field, run out, timed out or a batter retiring. nswcusa.cricketnsw.com.au (read 12 Oct 2026). Every scoresheet and symbol table in it is an IMAGE and was not read, and its Table of Dismissals numbers Timed Out as Law 31, which is Appeals in the 2017 Code.
8. International Cricket Council. ICC Men’s Standard ODI Playing Conditions, “Effective December 2023”, hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India — read only as independent corroboration of the July 2025 document at the same clause numbers: 12.8.1 (14.28 overs per hour), 13.8.2, 13.8.5 and 21.19.1–21.19.3 (the free hit). documents.bcci.tv (read 12 Oct 2026). Its contents page puts Section 28 at page 40, corroborating that clause 28.7.2.3 exists; the clause itself is not in the extracted text.
9. England and Wales Cricket Board. Playing Conditions — 20 overs per side — 5.1–5.2 (two fielders outside the circle for the first six overs, five thereafter), 5.3 (the shortened-innings table), 6.1 (no bowler more than one fifth of the scheduled overs). Stated to apply with the Laws of Cricket 2017 Code 3rd Edition (2022). resources.ecb.co.uk (read 12 Oct 2026).