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 st ...

, a free hit is a delivery to a batter in which the batter cannot be dismissed by any methods other than those applicable for 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 ...

, namely

run out Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket. A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket bef ...

, hit the ball twice and obstructing the field. It is relevant in

One Day Internationals A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

and

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 county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have ...

matches. When a bowler bowls a

, the immediate next ball is a free hit. Additionally, if the ball is delivered full toss above the waist the batter receives a free hit.

History

It came into international cricket in October 2007. Initially only foot fault no balls resulted in a free hit. From 2015, the rules were changed so that all no balls result in a free hit.

Advantage gained

The opportunity afforded by a free hit ball enables the batter to play a more powerful shot without the fear of getting out by the most common methods (caught or

leg before wicket Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was inste ...

). The fault lies with the fielding side, and the advantage is to the batting side. The only possible modes of dismissal on a free hit delivery are the same as those applicable on a no ball, viz.

, obstructing the field and hit the ball twice. If the batter is

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 ...

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (T ...

on a free hit delivery, the ball would still be in play and the batter can score runs. In case of bowled, the runs would be awarded to the batsman if the bat made contact with the ball before hitting the stumps; in case of clean bowled the runs are counted under byes. An instance of the latter happened in an ODI between India and England in January 2017, when Liam Plunkett clean bowled

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curre ...

off a free hit delivery and the ball rolled away to the

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment * ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film * ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film *Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...

, giving India four byes.

Fielding restrictions

The fielding team is not allowed to change the field for the free hit ball, if the same batter (who received the original no-ball) is on strike. However, for safety reasons, if the

wicketkeeper 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. ...

is standing up at the stumps they are allowed to move back to a more traditional position. If the batters ran an odd number of runs on the original no-ball, the other batter is now the striker, and the field may be re-positioned for the free hit. In fact re-positioning is also allowed if the striker changes for whatever reason, for example if a new batter replaces a striker who is

on the original no-ball, by failing to make his ground on the second run. The field must also be re-positioned if the no-ball was called for an illegal field placement.

Signal

The umpire at the bowler's end signals that the next ball is a free hit by making circular movements in the air with one raised hand. The free hit is carried over to the next ball if the original free hit ball is bowled wide or a no-ball; in this case the umpire is required to signal the free hit again.

References

{{Reflist Cricket terminology