No-ball
The 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.
Overview
A No ball is a delivery the Laws will not accept. The call carries an instant penalty of one run, the delivery does not count as one of the over's six, and the batter cannot be dismissed by most modes while it stands.
The best-known trigger is the front foot. Law 21 requires that some part of the bowler's front foot, whether grounded or raised, is behind the popping crease on landing. The back foot must land within and not touching the return crease for the bowler's stated mode of delivery.
The arm: what "throwing" actually means
The Laws do not ask whether a bowling action looks unusual. They set one test: once the bowler's arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint must not be straightened, partially or completely, from that instant until the ball has left the hand.
Flexing or rotating the wrist during delivery is explicitly permitted. So is a permanently bent arm. What is not permitted is straightening the elbow during the final part of the swing — which is why the question is always about elbow extension and never about how bent the arm looks in a photograph.
Bouncing, rolling, and the other triggers
A delivery that bounces more than once, or rolls along the ground, before it reaches the popping crease is a No ball — unless it first touches the bat or the striker's person.
Law 21 also covers deliveries that are dangerous, that are thrown towards the wicket, and that break other conditions of fair delivery. In every case the consequence is the same: one penalty run immediately, and the ball must be bowled again.
What a batter can still be out to
A no-ball protects the batter from being bowled, caught, stumped or out leg before wicket. It does not protect them from everything: a batter can still be run out, or out for obstructing the field or hitting the ball twice.
This is the practical reason a batter who hears the call can swing freely but must still run responsibly.
Key points
- Part of the front foot, grounded or raised, must be behind the popping crease.
- The back foot must land inside the return crease without touching it.
- The arm is illegal only if the elbow straightens after the arm passes shoulder level.
- A ball bouncing more than once before the popping crease is a no-ball.
- One penalty run is awarded instantly and the delivery must be bowled again.
Where it’s used
Sports that use no-ball:
Related rules
Cricket creases
The white lines marked at each end of a cricket pitch — bowling, popping and return creases — what each one is for, and the exact measurements that decide no-balls, run-outs and stumpings.
Innings and overs
How a cricket match is structured — what an innings is, why an over is six balls, how the bowling end alternates, and which parts of the structure the Laws fix and which a competition sets.
Wide ball
The 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.
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 21 — No ball (read 2026-09-12)
How it connects
The meaning-bearing relationships that place No-ball in the wider knowledge graph — each one with the reason it exists.
Builds on
Understanding these first makes this one make sense.
Commonly confused with
Close enough to be mixed up — the distinction is worth knowing.
Explains
Covers the underlying "why" for these.
Frequently learned together
Taught side by side in the same stage of a learning path.
- Cricket creasesBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- Innings and oversBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- Wide ballBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- Leg before wicket (LBW)Both are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Cricket learning path.
- How a batter is out in cricketBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Cricket learning path.
Explore across the knowledge base
Follow the threads that connect No-ball to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Learning paths
Equipment
- Wickets, stumps and bailsThe 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.
- The racket, blade and rubberWhat the Laws actually regulate about a table tennis bat — the 85% wood rule, the exact thickness limits for pimpled and sandwich rubber, and the pimple density range.
Muscle groups
Skills
Techniques
- Cricket batting grip and stanceThe starting position every cricket stroke is built from — how the hands sit on the handle, how the feet and head are set, and what the setup decides before the ball is even bowled.
- Swing bowlingHow a cricket ball is made to curve in the air — the seam position and surface asymmetry behind conventional and reverse swing, and why swing is a property of the ball as much as the bowler.
- Spin bowlingHow a slow bowler turns the ball — finger spin against wrist spin, off breaks, leg breaks and the deliveries that go the other way, and why flight matters more than turn.
- BreaststrokeA swimming stroke with a simultaneous arm sweep, a whip-like frog kick and a glide, performed on the front.
- The sweepThe stroke that turns a good-length spinning delivery into a scoring opportunity — the conventional sweep, the slog sweep and the reverse sweep, and the LBW risk each one accepts.
Go deeper with No-ball
Everywhere else on the platform that covers No-ball — assembled from what actually references it, so nothing here is a dead end.
Learn it
Structured courses and paths on the platform that cover this directly.
Take it away
Open data and the whole-platform view of this subject.
How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Rule
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-09-01
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