Wickets, stumps and bails
The three stumps and two bails a bowler aims at and a batter defends — their exact height, width and shape, and what the Laws say about when bails may be dispensed with.
Overview
A wicket is a set of three wooden stumps with two wooden bails resting in grooves on top. There is one at each end of the pitch, pitched opposite and parallel to each other in the centres of the bowling creases. Knock the bails off and, in most modes of dismissal, the batter is out.
Law 8 fixes the dimensions precisely. Each set is 9 in (22.86 cm) wide. The tops of the stumps stand 28 in (71.12 cm) above the playing surface, and each stump is a cylinder between 1.38 in (3.50 cm) and 1.5 in (3.81 cm) in diameter, domed at the top except where the bail grooves are cut.
The bails are specified to a hundredth of an inch
Bails look incidental and are measured to a precision that suggests otherwise. Each bail is 4.31 in (10.95 cm) long overall, made up of a barrel 2.13 in (5.40 cm) long, a longer spigot of 1.38 in (3.50 cm) and a shorter spigot of 0.81 in (2.06 cm). The two spigots and the barrel share one centre line.
In place, a bail must not project more than 0.5 in (1.27 cm) above the stumps, and must fit between them without forcing them out of the vertical. The tolerances exist because the bail is the trigger for a dismissal: it has to be light enough to be dislodged by a genuine contact and seated well enough not to fall off in the wind.
Safety devices that limit how far a bail can travel are permitted, but only with the approval of the relevant governing body — a concession to wicketkeeper and fielder safety that the Laws would not otherwise allow.
Playing without bails
Umpires may dispense with bails if conditions warrant it — strong wind being the usual reason. This is not a technicality: without bails, the umpires must judge for themselves whether the wicket has been put down, and the visible evidence a dismissal normally relies on is gone.
As with pitch length, Law 8 leaves junior dimensions to the relevant governing body rather than fixing smaller stumps itself.
Good to know
- Each wicket is 9 in (22.86 cm) wide and 28 in (71.12 cm) high to the top of the stumps.
- Stumps are cylindrical, 1.38–1.5 in (3.50–3.81 cm) in diameter, domed except for the bail grooves.
- A bail is 4.31 in (10.95 cm) long, with a barrel and two spigots sharing one centre line.
- A bail must not sit more than 0.5 in (1.27 cm) proud of the stumps.
- Umpires may dispense with bails when conditions warrant it.
Where it’s used
Sports that use wickets, stumps and bails:
Related equipment
Cricket bat
A flat-fronted wooden bat used by batters to hit the ball in cricket, with a curved back that concentrates weight behind the hitting area.
The cricket ball
What a cricket ball weighs and measures in men's, women's and junior cricket, who controls the ball during a match, and the rules on taking a new ball after 80 overs.
Sources
The rules, dimensions and specifications on this page were read from these documents.
- The Laws of Cricket — Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), 2017 Code, Law 8 — The wickets (read 2026-09-12)
How it connects
The meaning-bearing relationships that place Wickets, stumps and bails in the wider knowledge graph — each one with the reason it exists.
Foundation of
These build directly on this one.
Frequently learned together
Taught side by side in the same stage of a learning path.
- Cricket batBoth are taught in the “What you’ll need” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- The cricket ballBoth are taught in the “What you’ll need” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- The cricket pitchBoth are taught in the “What you’ll need” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- The cricket field and boundaryBoth are taught in the “What you’ll need” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- Artificial turfBoth are taught in the “What you’ll need” stage of the Cricket learning path.
Explore across the knowledge base
Follow the threads that connect Wickets, stumps and bails to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Rules
- How a batter is out in cricketThe lawful ways to dismiss a batter — bowled, caught, LBW, run out, stumped and the rarer modes — what separates them, and which ones a bowler is credited with.
- Leg before wicket (LBW)Cricket's most argued-about dismissal, set out as the Laws set it out: five conditions that must all be satisfied, and the one clause that changes everything if the batter played a shot.
- No-ballThe illegal delivery in cricket — where the bowler's feet must land, what the Laws say about straightening the arm, and why a no-ball costs a run and has to be bowled again.
- Wide ballThe delivery ruled too far from the batter to be hit — the exact test the umpire applies, the two situations that cancel a wide, and why a wide costs a run and must be bowled again.
- Three-hit ruleThe volleyball rule that a team may contact the ball at most three times before it must cross the net.
Facilities
- The cricket pitchThe 22-yard strip at the centre of a cricket field where the bowling and batting happen — its exact dimensions, how it is bounded, and who decides whether it is fit to play on.
- The cricket field and boundaryHow the edge of a cricket field is defined and marked, what scores four and what scores six, and why the Laws set no boundary distance while international playing conditions do.
- The table tennis tableThe exact dimensions of a table tennis table and its markings — length, width, height, the bounce test the surface must pass, and the lines that only matter in doubles.
- Padel court dimensionsThe exact size and markings of a padel court under FIP rules — the 10 by 20 metre rectangle, the service lines, the line width, and the free height the rules require above it.
- The rugby union fieldThe dimensions and markings of a rugby union pitch — the field of play, the in-goal areas, the 22-metre and 10-metre lines, the goal posts, and what the Laws fix versus what they leave open.
Learning paths
Techniques
- Forward and back defenceThe two strokes a batter survives with — the forward defensive and the back defensive — when each is the right choice, and why a defensive stroke is a decision about length rather than intent.
- Carving TurnA turn where the edged skis cut a clean arc in the snow and follow their own shape with little or no skidding.
- The pull and the hookThe two cross-batted strokes that punish short bowling — how the pull and the hook differ, the height of the ball that separates them, and the risk each one carries.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Equipment
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
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- Content updated
- 2026-09-01
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