Stumped is a method of dismissing a

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, in which the

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

puts down the striker's

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

while the striker is out of their

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

(the batter leaves their ground when they have moved down the pitch beyond the popping crease, often in an attempt to hit the ball). It is governed by Law 39 of the Laws of Cricket. Being "out of their ground" means no part of the batter's body, equipment or bat is touching the ground behind the crease. Stumped is a special case of run out, but a stumping can only be effected by the

wicket keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

without the intervention of another fielder, when the striker is not attempting a

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

, and the ball must not be a

no-ball In cricket, a no-ball is a type of illegal delivery to a batter (the other type being a wide). It is also a type of extra, being the run awarded to the batting team as a consequence of the illegal delivery. For most cricket games, especially a ...

. Where both modes of dismissal could be adjudged (i.e. it is the striker who is liable to be out, by action of the keeper alone, when the striker is not attempting a run, on a legitimate delivery), a stumping will be recorded and credited to the bowler and keeper. As always in cricket, one of the fielding team must

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

for the wicket by asking the umpires. It is the square-leg umpire who adjudicates all stumpings, and all run-out appeals at the striker's end.

Practice

Stumping is the fifth-most-common form of dismissal after

caught Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket. A batsman is out caught if the batsman hits the ball, from a legitimate delivery, with the bat, and the ball is caught by the bowler or a fielder before it hits the ground. If the ball h ...

, bowled, leg before wicket, and run out, though it is seen more commonly in shorter forms of the game such as

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

cricket, because attacking batting leads both to batters more frequently losing their balance, and to deliberately leaving the crease to better strike the ball. Most stumping dismissals are effected by the keeper "standing up" (i.e. able to put down the wicket by reaching out with the gloved hand holding the ball) and so are usually taken by a medium or slow bowler, especially a slower spin bowler. If the keeper is "standing back" to a faster bowler, the wicket-keeper may throw the ball at the stumps to remove the bails ("throw down the wicket") and is also credited with the stumping, although any other fielder throwing down the wicket would be a run out. Stumping is often an intended consequence of the fielding team's setup and involves cooperation between bowler and wicket-keeper: the bowler draws the batter out of their ground, such as by delivering a ball with a shorter length to tempt the batter to step forward to create a half-volley, and when they miss the ball, the keeper catches it and breaks the wicket before the batter "makes their ground" (i.e. places the bat or part of their body on the ground back behind the popping crease). If the bails are removed before the act of stumping (e.g by the keeper's foot), the batter can still be stumped if the wicket-keeper removes one of the stumps from the ground, while holding the ball in the hand or arm that is in contact with the stump. A batter may be out stumped off a

wide WIDE or Wide may refer to: *Wide (cricket) *Wide and narrow data, terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data *WIDE Project, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment *Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment *WIDE-LP, a radio ...

delivery, in which case the batting team are still credited with the one run extra and both umpires are required to signal to the scorers: the bowler's end umpire signals the Wide, the striker's end, that the batsman is out. A batter cannot be stumped off a

(as stumped is credited to the bowler, the fielding team cannot benefit from the illegal delivery). Notes: * The popping crease is defined as the back edge of the crease marking (i.e. the edge closer to the wicket. Therefore, a batter whose bat or foot is ''on'' the crease marking, but does not touch the ground ''behind'' the crease marking, can be stumped. This is quite common if the batter's back foot is raised so that only their toe is on the ground. * The wicket must be properly put down in accordance with Law 29 of the Laws of cricket: using either the ball itself or a hand or arm that is in contact with the ball at the point of breaking the wicket. A stumping is also valid if the ball merely rebounds from the wicket-keeper and breaks the wicket just as if the wicket had been thrown down. * The wicket-keeper must allow the ball to pass the stumps before taking it, unless it has touched either the batter or his bat first (Law 21.9). If the wicket-keeper fails to do this, the delivery is a

, and the batter cannot be stumped (nor run out, unless he attempts to run to the other wicket). * If the striker is injured and has a runner (no longer permitted in professional cricket), the runner leaves their crease and the wicket is put down for what would otherwise be a stumping, the striker is run out, not stumped.

Records

References

External links

{{Cricket statistics Cricket laws and regulations Cricket terminology