Extra (cricket)

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In the sport of cricket, an extra is a run scored by a means other than a batsman hitting the ball. Extras are also sometimes called sundries. Extras are added to the batting team's score, but are not added to any individual batsman's score.

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.

Contents

1 Types of extra

1.1 No ball
1.2 Wide
1.3 Bye
1.4 Leg bye
1.5 Penalty runs

2 See also

Types of extra

No ball

An umpire may call a no ball when the bowler, wicket-keeper, or fielder commits an illegal action during bowling.

The most common reason for a no ball is overstepping the popping crease for the front foot at the instant of delivery. A rarer reason is when the bowler's back foot touches or lands outside the return crease. A third reason for calling a no ball is when a bowler throws (or chucks) the ball. This has caused a lot of international controversy in recent times. The penalty for a no ball is one run (or, in some one-day competitions, two runs); furthermore, the no ball does not count as one of the six in an over but it counts as a ball faced by the batsman as far as his personal statistics are concerned. The runs otherwise scored by the batsman, whether by running or by a boundary, also count as part of the team score, but only runs scored off the bat are included in the batsman's score.

See no ball for a complete list of no ball situations.

Wide

A ball being delivered too far from the batsman to strike it, provided that no part of the batsman's body or equipment touches the ball, is known as a wide (the definition of what counts as wide is far more strict in a limited overs match, because bowling unplayable balls would be a way to "waste" the batting team's innings).

A wide is penalized one run; a wide also does not count as one of the six in an over. However, if a no ball is called, the ball is not also counted as a wide. The runs otherwise scored by the batsman, whether by running or by a boundary, also count as part of the score. (Note that the batsman need not strike the ball to run.)

Bye

If the ball passes the batsmen, but is not wide, and the wicketkeeper still cannot stop the ball, the batsmen may run. In this case, the runs are scored as byes.

Leg bye

If the ball hits the batsman's body, then provided the batsman is not out leg before wicket and the batsman either tried to avoid being hit or tried to hit the ball with the bat, the batsman may run. In this case, regardless of the part of anatomy touched by the ball, the runs scored are known as leg byes.

Penalty runs

Rarely, extra "penalty" runs may be scored.

If the ball is lost, a fielder calls "lost ball", the batting team scores either six runs, or the number of runs completed by the batsmen (including the run in progress, if they have crossed), whichever is the greater. This rarely occurs in international cricket.
Fielders in potentially dangerous positions can use protective headgear. For convenience, when a helmet is not being used (for example if the field is set so that all fielders are a distance from the batsman) it can be placed on the ground behind the wicketkeeper. If the ball touches this helmet as it is lying on the ground, five penalty runs are awarded to the batting side.
For various other actions, the umpire has to award five penalty runs to either team. Time wasting, damaging the playing area, attempting to "steal" a run, a fielder fielding the ball other than with his "person" (for example, throwing his cap or jumper to stop the ball) or deliberately distracting the batsman are among the actions punishable by awarding the penalty, some after one or two warnings, others after none.