Scoring
How to Score Wides and No Balls
The changes to the rules in the 2000 Code Laws of Cricket, whereby runs made off a no ball or wide are scored in addition to penalty runs for the delivery, have introduced some confusion for scorers and umpires that is still apparent from time to time. To clear up some of this confusion, it is worth reviewing how these events should be signalled by the umpires and annotated in the scorebook. The key thing is to indicate how many runs are scored off the delivery, and to make sure that they are credited to the batsmen if appropriate.
We'll start off by restating the relevant laws which cover runs resulting from a wide or a no ball.
Law 24 - No Ball
12. Penalty for a No ball
A penalty of one run shall be awarded instantly on the call of No ball. Unless the call is revoked this penalty shall stand even if a batsman is dismissed. It shall be in addition to any other runs scored, any boundary allowance and any other penalties awarded.
13. Runs resulting from a No ball - how scored
The one run penalty for a No ball shall be scored as a No ball extra. If other penalty runs have been awarded to either side, these shall be scored as in Law 42.17 (Penalty runs). Any runs completed by the batsmen or a boundary allowance shall be credited to the striker if the ball has been struck by the bat; otherwise they also shall be scored as No ball extras. Apart from any award of a 5 run penalty, all runs resulting from a No ball, whether as No ball extras or credited to the striker, shall be debited against the bowler.
Law 25 - Wide Ball
5. Penalty for a Wide
A penalty of one run shall be awarded instantly on the call of Wide ball. Unless the call is revoked (see 3 above), this penalty shall stand even if a batsman is dismissed, and shall be in addition to any other runs scored, any boundary allowance and any other penalties awarded.
6. Runs resulting from a Wide - how scored
All runs completed by the batsmen or a boundary allowance, together with the penalty for the Wide, shall be scored as Wide balls. Apart from any award of a 5 run penalty, all runs resulting from a Wide ball shall be debited against the bowler.
The first thing to note is that the penalty run for the delivery is in addition to any other runs, be they made by the batsmen or caused by the ball crossing a boundary. Thus, if a wide goes for 4 runs, that will be 5 runs added to the total and against the bowler.
No balls present an extra difficulty, since in addition to runs against the bowler, they may also result in runs to the batsman. A way to differentiate in the bowling analysis is needed to allow for this, since runs from a no ball that are not signalled as byes should be credited to the batsman.
It also follows that the umpire must signal byes as well as no ball if the batsmen take runs from a no ball without having struck the ball. If no byes are signalled with a no ball, the scorers must assume they are credited to the batsman.
The tables below show how the scorebooks should be marked for wides and no balls.
Wide
| Event | Bowling Analysis | Extras (Wides) | Against Bowler |
|---|---|---|---|
No run taken |  | ||
1 run taken |  | ||
2 runs taken |  | ||
3 runs taken |  | ||
4 runs taken, or boundary 4 |  | ||
Batsman dismissed (hit wicket or stumped) |  |
No ball - byes signalled
| Event | Bowling Analysis | Extras (No Balls) | Against Bowler |
|---|---|---|---|
No run taken or batsman dismissed (hit the ball twice) |  | ||
1 run taken |  | ||
2 runs taken |  | ||
3 runs taken |  | ||
4 runs taken |  | ||
Batsman dismissed (handled the ball, obstruction or runout) |
No ball - byes not signalled
| Event | Bowling Analysis | Extras (No Balls) | Against Bowler | Credit Batsman |
|---|---|---|---|---|
No run taken | | |||
1 run taken |  | |||
2 runs taken |  | |||
3 runs taken |  | |||
4 runs taken |  | |||
Boundary 4 or 6 | or  |
It is never correct to have a W inside an , because the bowler
can never have credit for a wicket taken from a no ball.
It is never correct to have runs scored from a wide credited to the batsman, since the batsman must strike the ball to gain credit for the runs, and if he strikes the ball it cannot be a wide.
These annotations and figures are taken from "Cricket Umpiring and Scoring", by Tom Smith (ISBN 0-297-64604-4).
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