Cricket Rules – Law 24 – No Ball
1. Mode of delivery
(a) The umpire shall ascertain whether the bowler intends to bowl right handed or left handed, over or round the wicket, and shall so inform the striker.It is unfair if the bowler fails to notify the umpire of a change in his mode of delivery. In this case the umpire shall call and signal No ball.(b) Underarm bowling shall not be permitted except by special agreement before the match.
2. Fair delivery – the arm
For a delivery to be fair in respect of the arm the ball must not be thrown. See 3 below
Although it is the primary responsibility of the striker’s end umpire to assess the fairness of a delivery in this respect, there is nothing in this Law to debar the bowler’s end umpire from calling and signalling No ball if he considers that the ball has been thrown.(a) If, in the opinion of either umpire, the ball has been thrown, he shall call and signal No ball and, when the ball is dead, inform the other umpire of the reason for the call.The bowler’s end umpire shall then(i) caution the bowler. This caution shall apply throughout the innings.(ii) inform the captain of the fielding side of the reason for this action.(iii) inform the batsmen at the wicket of what has occurred.(b) If, after such caution, either umpire considers that, in that innings, a further delivery by the same bowler is thrown, the procedure set out in (a) above shall be repeated, indicating to the bowler that this is a final warning.This warning shall also apply throughout the innings.
(c) If either umpire considers that, in that innings, a further delivery by the same bowler is thrown, he shall call and signal No ball and when the ball is dead inform the other umpire of the reason for the call.The bowler’s end umpire shall then(i) direct the captain of the fielding side to suspend the bowler forthwith. The over shall, if applicable, be completed by another bowler, who shall neither have bowled the previous over or part thereof nor be allowed to bowl any part of the next over.The bowler thus suspended shall not bowl again in that innings.(ii) inform the batsmen at the wicket and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of the occurrence.(d) The umpires together shall report the occurrence as soon as possible after the match to the Executive of the fielding side and to any Governing Body responsible for the match, who shall take such action as is considered appropriate against the captain and the bowler concerned.
3. Definition of fair delivery – the arm
A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler’s arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing.
4. Bowler throwing towards striker’s end before delivery
If the bowler throws the ball towards the striker’s end before entering his delivery stride, either umpire shall call and signal No ball. See Law 42.16 (Batsmen stealing a run). However, the procedure stated in 2 above of caution, informing, final warning, action against the bowler and reporting shall not apply.
5. Fair delivery – the feet
For a delivery to be fair in respect of the feet, in the delivery stride(a) the bowler’s back foot must land within and not touching the return crease appertaining to his stated mode of delivery.(b) the bowler’s front foot must land with some part of the foot, whether grounded or raised(i) on the same side of the imaginary line joining the two middle stumps as the return crease described in (a) aboveand (ii) behind the popping crease.If the bowler’s end umpire is not satisfied that all of these three conditions have been met, he shall call and signal No ball.
6. Ball bouncing more than twice or rolling along the ground
The umpire shall call and signal No ball if a ball which he considers to have been delivered, without having previously touched bat or person of the striker,either (i) bounces more than twiceor (ii) rolls along the groundbefore it reaches the popping crease.
7. Ball coming to rest in front of striker’s wicket
If a ball delivered by the bowler comes to rest in front of the line of the striker’s wicket, without having previously touched the bat or person of the striker, the umpire shall call and signal No ball and immediately call and signal Dead ball.
8. Call of No ball for infringement of other Laws
In addition to the instances above, No ball is to be called and signalled as required by the following Laws.Law 40.3 – Position of wicket-keeperLaw 41.5 – Limitation of on side fieldersLaw 41.6 – Fielders not to encroach on pitchLaw 42.6 – Dangerous and unfair bowlingLaw 42.7 – Dangerous and unfair bowling – action by the umpireLaw 42.8 – Deliberate bowling of high full pitched balls
9. Revoking a call of No ball
An umpire shall revoke his call of No ball if the ball does not leave the bowler’s hand for any reason.
10. No ball to over-ride Wide
A call of No ball shall over-ride the call of Wide ball at any time. See Laws 25.1(Judging a Wide) and 25.3 (Call and signal of Wide ball).
11. Ball not dead
The ball does not become dead on the call of 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, the 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 runs awarded for penalties.
13. Runs resulting from a No ball – how scored
The one run penalty shall be scored as a No ball extra. If other penalty runs have been awarded to either side these shall be scored as stated in Law 42.17 (Penalty runs). Any runs completed by the batsmen or any boundary allowance shall be credited to the striker if the ball has been struck by the bat; otherwise they shall also be scored as No ball extras.Apart from any award of 5 penalty runs, all runs resulting from a No ball, whether as No ball extras or credited to the striker, shall be debited against the bowler.
14. No ball not to count
A No ball shall not count as one of the over. See Law 22.3 (Validity of balls).
15. Out from a No ball
When No ball has been called, neither batsman shall be out under any of the Laws except 33 (Handled the ball), 34 (Hit the ball twice), 37 (Obstructing the field) or 38 (Run out).
© Marylebone Cricket Club 2010
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