Cricket · MCC 2022 and ICC 2025/26

A No ball or Wide adds a run, stays live and does not count in the over.

Published 6 May 2026

First identify the rules appointed for the match. MCC supplies the general Laws, while the ICC and domestic competitions can replace parts of them—most visibly the free hit and the treatment of a ball that bounces over the batter's head.

Quick ruling: under MCC Laws 21–22, a No ball overrides a Wide; either call normally adds one penalty run and does not count among the over's six valid balls. The call itself does not make the ball dead. A free hit is not in the MCC Laws: current ICC ODI and T20I clause 21.19 adds one after every kind of No ball, but current ICC Test conditions do not.

Scope

The versions used on this page

The baseline is the MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 3rd Edition 2022, especially Laws 21 and 22. It remains in force on 26 August 2026 and is replaced by MCC's 4th Edition on 1 October 2026.

International variations are taken from the ICC Men's Test conditions effective June 2025, Men's ODI and T20I conditions effective July 2025, and Women's Test, ODI and T20I conditions effective July 2026. Those documents apply to their named internationals only. A domestic board, league, franchise tournament, school or junior competition may appoint different conditions.

Decision path

Classify the delivery before scoring it

Find the appointed rules. MCC is the baseline; a competition's playing conditions can modify it.
Check No ball first. Test the bowler's mode, action and feet, the ball's path and height, and any fielding infringement.
Only then test Wide. A delivery cannot be recorded as both because No ball overrides Wide.
Keep watching the live ball. Unless another Law calls Dead ball, running, boundaries and the permitted dismissals remain possible.
Separate the score. Add the one-run penalty, then classify bat runs, byes, leg byes, completed runs, boundaries and other penalties correctly.
Finish the sequence. The illegal delivery does not count in the over; in ICC ODI/T20I cricket, also mark the next delivery as a free hit.

Foot faults

What the crease test actually requires

Under MCC Law 21.5, the back foot must land within and not touching the return crease on the side that matches the bowler's stated mode. The front foot must land with some part—grounded or raised—behind the popping crease and on the correct side of the imaginary line joining the middle stumps.

A front foot merely landing on or beyond the popping-crease line, with no part behind it, is a No ball. The test is the landing position in the delivery stride; dragging the foot back after landing does not repair the delivery.

Other No balls

The offence is not limited to the front foot

MCC Law 21 also requires a No ball for an unnotified change between right/left arm or over/round the wicket, a thrown ball, an underarm delivery without prior special agreement, and specified cases where the bowler breaks the wicket during delivery.

Other triggers include a delivery that rolls or bounces more than once before the popping crease, lands wholly or partly off the pitch, forces the striker to leave the pitch to play it, comes to rest in front of the striker's wicket, or is intercepted by a fielder before reaching the striker or passing the wicket. The leave-pitch/resting-ball case and the fielder-interception case pair the No ball with an immediate Dead ball.

Height calls

A beamer and a bouncer use different reference heights

Under the MCC 2022 edition, an unpitched delivery that passes or would have passed above the waist of the striker standing upright at the popping crease is unfair and must be called No ball under Law 41.7. Whether it is also dangerous controls the warning process; it does not control the initial No ball.

The still-effective MCC Law 21.10 also makes a delivery that pitches and then passes or would have passed over the head of that notional upright striker a No ball. Current ICC Test, ODI and T20I conditions instead classify that pitched head-high ball as a Wide. MCC adopts the same Wide treatment from 1 October 2026. The ball's actual height beside a batter who has crouched, advanced or retreated is not the stated reference test.

Fielding infringements

Some illegal fields create a No ball

Under the MCC 2022 baseline, the wicket-keeper must remain wholly behind the striker's wicket from the moment the ball comes into play until it touches the striker or bat, passes the wicket, or the striker attempts a run. Leaving that position early is a No ball. So is having more than two fielders other than the wicket-keeper behind the popping crease on the on side at delivery, or a fielder other than the bowler encroaching on the pitch before the ball reaches or passes the striker.

Powerplay-circle limits are competition rules, not a general MCC “protected area” rule. ICC ODI/T20I clause 28.7 adds format-specific placement limits and makes their breach a No ball. ICC Men's ODI clause 28.4 also limits the fielding side to five fielders on the leg side.

Wide test

Missing the bat is not enough

MCC Law 22.1 asks whether a ball that is not a No ball passes beyond the striker's reach for a normal cricket stroke. Under the 2022 wording, it must pass wide both of where the striker is standing or has stood at any point since the ball came into play for that delivery and of a normal batting position.

If the striker's movement causes the ball to pass wide, or brings the ball within reach for a normal stroke, it is not a Wide. Contact with the bat or person before a fielder touches the ball revokes a Wide call. The umpire calls Wide once the ball passes the striker's wicket, but Law 22.2 treats it as a Wide from the start of the bowler's delivery stride.

ICC Wide variation

International wording is not identical to MCC's baseline

The current ICC men's conditions judge the lateral Wide against where the striker is standing and against a normal batting position. The July 2026 ICC women's ODI and T20I conditions make the first reference explicit as where the striker is standing at the point of delivery. The ODI and T20I documents also direct umpires to apply a strict and consistent interpretation against negative bowling.

Those ICC documents do not repeat MCC's “has stood at any point” wording. This is why a viewer should not transfer a local MCC-only decision automatically to an international or tournament match.

Ball remains live

The signal is not the same as Dead ball

MCC Laws 21.14 and 22.5 say the ball does not become dead merely because No ball or Wide is called. The batting side can run, the ball can reach the boundary and a permitted dismissal can still occur. There is no separate “advantage” decision that cancels the call.

Another provision can make the same delivery dead. For example, a ball that comes to rest in front of the striker's wicket or is so far away that the striker would have to leave the pitch is called No ball and immediately Dead ball. Analyse the illegal-delivery call and the ball's live/dead status separately.

Scoring

One penalty run comes before the other runs

For a No ball, the one-run penalty is a No ball extra and is charged to the bowler. If the striker hits the ball, completed runs or the boundary allowance are credited to the striker. If the bat does not hit it, the additional runs are recorded as byes or leg byes as applicable—not simply added to the No ball column.

For a Wide, the penalty, completed runs and boundary allowance are all scored as Wides and, apart from separate five-run penalties, are charged to the bowler. Thus a Wide missed by the wicket-keeper that reaches the boundary normally produces five Wides: the one-run Wide penalty plus the four-run boundary allowance.

Dismissals

No ball and Wide leave different ways to be out

After No ball, MCC Law 21.18 permits only Hit the ball twice, Obstructing the field and Run out. Neither batter can be dismissed by any other method from that delivery, so Bowled, Caught, LBW, Stumped and Hit wicket do not apply.

After Wide, Law 22.9 permits Hit wicket, Obstructing the field, Run out and Stumped. The striker can therefore be stumped from an ordinary Wide, while either batter can be run out if the relevant conditions are met. The one-run Wide penalty still stands when a permitted dismissal occurs.

Free hit

ICC limited-overs cricket adds the next-ball protection

MCC has no free-hit Law, and the current ICC Test conditions contain no free-hit clause. By contrast, current ICC ODI and T20I clause 21.19 makes the delivery after any mode of No ball a free hit for whichever batter faces it.

On that free hit, the striker can be dismissed only in the circumstances that apply to a No ball: Hit the ball twice, Obstructing the field or Run out. A fielder may still catch the ball, but Caught is unavailable and the ball stays live; a batter who attempts a run can still be Run out.

Free-hit sequence

A Wide or No ball does not use the free hit up

If the attempted free-hit delivery is itself a Wide or any kind of No ball, ICC clause 21.19.1 carries the free hit to the next delivery, for whichever batter faces it.

Field changes and exchanges of individual fielding positions are barred before the free hit unless the striker changes or the original No ball resulted from a fielding-restriction breach; in the latter case the field may change only enough to correct that breach. The bowler may change mode, but the notification requirements still apply.

Calls and review

Technology can change the ruling after the ball

Under the current ICC Men's ODI Appendix D protocol, the third umpire determines foot-fault No balls under clause 21.5 and may check other modes when an on-field umpire requests help around a dismissal. If a late foot-fault call reverses a dismissal after the ball is dead, the batting side receives the No ball run and the batter is not out, but officials do not reconstruct runs that might have been attempted had the call been made live.

This is an ICC officiating procedure, not a universal right for a player to review any Wide or No ball. A match without that protocol remains controlled by its appointed umpires and playing conditions.

Worked case 1

A front-foot No ball is hit for four

Situation: the bowler oversteps and the striker drives the ball to the boundary.

MCC 2022 ruling: five runs—one No ball extra plus four to the striker. The ball does not count in the over and Caught, Bowled or LBW could not dismiss the striker. ICC ODI/T20I addition: the next delivery is a free hit.

Worked case 2

The keeper completes a stumping from a Wide

Situation: the striker misses an ordinary Wide, is out of the ground without attempting a run and the wicket-keeper fairly puts down the wicket.

MCC 2022 ruling: the striker can be out Stumped and the one-run Wide penalty stands. ICC free-hit exception: if this Wide was the attempted free-hit delivery, Stumped is unavailable, the striker remains not out and the free hit carries to the next delivery.

Worked case 3

The batter moves away from a ball now outside reach

Situation: the delivery would have been within reach of the striker's original position, but the striker steps away and then cannot reach it.

MCC 2022 ruling: not Wide if the striker's movement caused it to pass wide. The decisive fact is the movement, not simply that bat and ball did not meet. A competition's own Wide guidance still controls its match.

Worked case 4

A pitched ball passes over head height

Situation: after pitching, the ball passes over where the striker's head would be while standing upright at the popping crease.

MCC through 30 September 2026: No ball under Law 21.10. Current ICC Test/ODI/T20I ruling: Wide under clause 22.1.1.2. MCC from 1 October 2026: Wide under the new Law 22.1.3. Under the current ICC ODI/T20I classification, this Wide does not create a new free hit.

Common mistakes

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong answer

“It can be both No ball and Wide.” No ball overrides Wide.
“The call makes the ball dead.” Not by itself; play continues unless another Law makes it dead.
“Every No ball gives a free hit.” Not under MCC alone or current ICC Test conditions; current ICC ODIs/T20Is add it.
“Nothing can be out on a free hit.” Run out, Obstructing the field and Hit the ball twice can still apply.
“Any ball over the batter's head is a No ball.” Pitched and unpitched deliveries use different height rules, and ICC already differs from the MCC edition in force before October 2026.

Official references

Governing-body sources and effective versions

Checked on 26 August 2026 against the then-effective MCC 2022 edition, MCC's announced replacement effective 1 October 2026, and the named current ICC international conditions. MCC Laws 21–22 are the general baseline; the national board, competition, age-grade or tournament conditions appointed for the match may supplement or replace them.