Signals from cricket umpires - a quick guide! Quiz

Answer: No-ball

A no-ball is signalled by the umpire when the bowler delivers an 'illegal' ball. This usually involves none of the bowler's front foot landing behind the crease - the front line across the pitch - when they let the ball go from their hand. The batsman cannot be given out (except for run out) and the batting team is awarded 1 run (plus any scored by the batsman).

The bowler needs to repeat that delivery. This is a relatively common occurrence. In short form games, a no-ball is also signalled if the delivery from the bowler reaches the batter above waist level (in their normal stance) without bouncing first.

Answer: Wide

A 'wide' is a delivery from the bowler which in the umpire's view cannot be reached by the batter when standing in their normal stance. In some forms of cricket, especially one day games and even shorter forms, there are marks on the pitch to assist the umpire judge whether a delivery is a wide.

A batter can be run out or stumped off a wide. As with a no-ball, one run is added to the batting team's total and the bowler must repeat that delivery.

Answer: Bye

A bye is awarded by the umpire if the wicket keeper misses or fumbles the ball when it passes by the batter and the stumps, and the batters then score at least one run. This is an indication to the scorers that the run is to be awarded to the batting team but not the individual batter. If the ball reaches the boundary in this instance, the umpire first signals a bye and then four runs. If the ball has deflected off the batter's body then a leg bye is awarded rather than a bye. If the batter has hit the ball, then a normal run is scored and no signal is required (unless the ball reaches the boundary).

Answer: Leg Bye

A leg bye is signalled when the ball from the bowler deflects from the batter's body rather than their bat and a run (or multiple runs) is successfully taken. As with a bye, the team total is credited with a run but this run is not awarded to the individual batter.

The umpire must be convinced that the batter was either trying to hit the ball with the bat or trying to evade the ball, for the run to be awarded. If in the umpire's view the batter deliberately allowed the ball to hit their body so as to deflect it, then no run is awarded and the umpire will signal 'dead ball'.

Answer: Four runs

An umpire will signal four runs when the ball reaches the boundary of the playing area. The boundary is often marked with a rope or line. In past times and still in some lower grade matches, the boundary is still the fence around the ground. This was changed to avoid injuries with desperate fielders crashing into the fence while trying to stop the ball.

A key feature of a 'four' is that the ball has bounced at least once in the field of play after reaching the batter and before reaching the boundary. Once the ball has reached the boundary, that 'play' has finished until the next delivery from the bowler.

The batters stop running and cannot be run out. This is irrespective of whether the batter hit the ball or it was byes or leg byes.

Answer: Six Runs

Much less common than a score of four runs from a delivery, six runs is awarded to the batting team if the ball is hit over the boundary by the batter without bouncing (akin to a home run in baseball). This is the most runs that can be scored off one delivery except in highly unusual circumstances (e.g. overthrows). Hence a 'six' is the goal of a batter when they believe they can safely hit it over the boundary without mis-hitting it and being caught by a fielder (again, a link to the similar event in baseball).

'Safe' batting tactics suggest hitting the ball so it bounces and the batter cannot be caught out - four runs is the best result in this circumstance. Hence it is a matter of risk and reward. Big sixes where the ball sails into the crowd and occasionally even out of the stadium are a spectacular highlight of the game.

Answer: The batter is 'out'

The umpire decides whether a batter is out (their individual innings is finished) if any of a number of events occur after the bowler has delivered the ball (in baseball parlance, after the pitcher has thrown the ball at the plate). Most commonly they will adjudicate whether the ball has touched the edge of the batter's bat and been caught by the wicket-keeper, or whether the ball has hit the batter's pads (leg guards) and would have gone on to hit the stumps if it hadn't been intercepted in that fashion. The latter is known as Leg Before Wicket - or LBW - and there are many nuances to this rule which the umpire must consider before arriving at their decision. The bowler and/or fielding team will start the adjudication process by making an 'appeal', usually in the form of a yelled "How is that?". The umpires will also decide on appeals for 'run out', where the fielding team have 'broken the stumps' (at least one of the two bails atop the stumps has been knocked off) with the ball before either of the batters has reached safe ground behind their respective creases.

The umpire will also often perfunctorily signal 'out' when the batter is clearly dismissed e.g. a catch where the fielder has cleanly caught the ball or the batsman has been bowled (the ball from the bowler hits the stumps and knocks at least one bail off).

In the higher levels, international and national level matches, there is usually a video review system whereby the batter can challenge the 'out' decision of the umpire, or the fielding team can challenge a 'not out' call. Each team will have a small number of review calls available, the number depending upon the type and duration of the match. A successful appeal will mean that the review opportunity is retained; an appeal that is deemed unsuccessful by the video review umpire will result in that review opportunity being lost for the remainder of the batting team's innings.

Answer: Dead ball

The umpire shall signal dead ball typically in circumstances where the normal routine - the bowler delivers the ball to the batter, who than has an opportunity to hit it and potentially score runs, or is dismissed (given 'out') or passes through to the wicket keeper - is interrupted, usually by some outside agency or event. Such events have included a bird flying across the pitch just as the bowler is delivering the ball, a reflection of sun into the battter's eyes by some event in the stadium, someone in the crowd behind the bowler is moving noticeably, a non-authorised person being on the field; hence the batter is affected in their ability to hit the ball due to distraction. Or far rarer, a fielder is impeded in their attempts to catch or stop the ball by an outside agency (usually a spectator).

Another cause for a "dead ball" call was mentioned in the leg bye information, when a batter deliberately lets the ball him them in order to deflect if past the wicket keeper or fielders to score runs. In all these instances, the umpire signals 'dead ball' and that delivery is repeated with no runs awarded and no dismissal of either batter.

Answer: Short run

Unless the ball reaches the boundary, in which case four or six runs are awarded by the umpire and play stops until the next delivery, runs are scored by the batters running from the crease (front line on the pitch at each end) at one end of the pitch to the crease at the other end.

There are two batters - one at each end - and each must safely reach the crease at the other end for a run to score. More than one run can be scored if both batters reach the other end and then turn around and come back to where they started (scoring two runs) provided they are confident they will not be run out.

They can run three and even more runs if they deem it safe to do so. However, for a run to count towards the score, each batter must touch their bat or part of their body (usually a foot) beyond the crease at the other end before turning around for another run.

The umpires should carefully watch this grounding behind the crease. If a batter turns for another run before successfully completing the previous run, at the end of that play, the umpire signals 'short run' to indicate a run was not successfully completed and that run does not count towards the team's score.

The most common occurrence is the batter touches the crease line but not behind the line.

Answer: Free Hit

The concept of a 'free hit' is relatively new in cricket and occurs in the shorter forms of the game - 50 overs per side (300 legal deliveries), 20 overs per side (120 legal deliveries) or even shorter forms. One objective of this rule is to provide an additional penalty for a bowler delivering a no-ball and to increase crowd excitement (I'm writing this as a cricket purist who really does not like this innovation!).

In addition to the usual outcome of a no-ball being one run awarded to the batting team and a need to repeat this delivery, a 'free hit' means that the batter cannot be given out (with the exception of being run out) on this repeat delivery, so it is an open invitation to try to smash it for six runs.