
In
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, a wide is a type of
illegal delivery to a
batter (the other type being a
no-ball) that is judged by the
umpire to be too wide or (in international cricket) too high to be hit by the batsman by means of a normal cricket shot. It is also a type of
extra
Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* Extra (newspaper), ...
, being the
run awarded to the batting team as a consequence of such an illegal delivery.
Definition
Wide balls are covered by Law 22 of the
Laws of Cricket
The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code that specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744. Since 1788, the code has been owned and maintained by the private Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lord's Cr ...
.
A delivery is a wide if it is not sufficiently within reach for the batter to be able to hit it with the bat by means of a normal cricket stroke from where the batter is standing, and also would not have been sufficiently within reach for the batter to be able to hit it with the bat by means of a normal cricket stroke if the batter were standing in a normal
guard position. Therefore a delivery is not a wide if the ball hits the bat or batsman, or if the batsman, by moving, causes the ball to be out of reach.
If a ball qualifies as a
no-ball as well as a wide, the umpire will call it a no-ball, and not a wide.
Effects
Runs
When a wide is bowled, one
extra
Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* Extra (newspaper), ...
run is added to the team's total, but not added to a batter's total.
If the wicket-keeper fumbles or misses the ball, the batters may attempt additional runs. Any runs scored thus are recorded as wides, not
byes. If the wicket-keeper misses the ball and it travels all the way to the
boundary, the batting team is awarded five wides. If a wide ball crosses the boundary without touching the ground, only five wides (not seven) are scored - according to Law 19.7, a boundary
six can only be scored if the ball has touched the bat.
Additional delivery
A wide does not count as one of the six
deliveries in an
over, nor as a ball faced by the batters, and so an additional delivery must be bowled.
Bowlers' statistics
Wide balls are considered to be the fault of the bowler, and all wide runs conceded are recorded against the bowler in the bowler's
bowling analysis. However, this has only been the case since the early 1980s - the first
Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
to record wides (and no-balls) against the bowler's analyses was
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
vs
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
in September 1983.
Umpire signal
An umpire straightens both arms to form a horizontal straight line to signal a wide.
Scoring notation
The conventional scoring notation for a wide is an equal cross (likened to the umpire standing with arms outstretched signalling a wide).
If the batters run byes on a wide ball or the ball runs to the boundary for 4, a dot is added in each corner for each bye that is run, typically top left, then top right, then bottom left and finally all 4 corners.
If the batter hits the stumps with the bat, or the wicket-keeper stumps the batter, the batter would be out and a ‘W’ is added to the WIDE ‘cross’ symbol.
If a batter is run out while taking byes on a wide delivery then the number of completed runs are shown as dots and an 'R' is added in the corner for the incomplete run.
Interpretation with batter switching sides
If the batsman does a
switch hit, then the ball may be bowled to either side of them within the standard distance without being called a wide.
[ ]
See also
*
No ball
*
Free hit
*
Overthrow
*
Ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...
: the analogous concept in baseball
References
{{Cricket statistics
Cricket laws and regulations
Cricket terminology
Bowling (cricket)
Scoring (cricket)