Retired Hurt in Cricket: When Batters Leave the Crease Due to Injury

Retired hurt is a provision in the Laws of Cricket (Law 25) that allows a batter to leave the field due to illness, injury or other unavoidable cause, without being dismissed. The batter retains the right to return to bat later in the same innings — unlike a dismissal, which ends that batter's participation permanently. When a batter retires hurt, they are listed in the scorecard as 'retired hurt' with their total runs, and the next batter in the order comes in. If the batter recovers sufficiently, they may return to the crease later in the innings — but only with the consent of the opposing captain.

Retired Hurt vs Retired Out

There are two forms of retirement in cricket: 'retired hurt' (or 'retired not out') and 'retired out.' Retired hurt/not out occurs due to genuine injury or illness — the batter leaves involuntarily for medical reasons. Retired out is a deliberate tactical choice — a batter chooses to retire from the crease voluntarily, not due to injury. Retired out does count as a dismissal in statistics (unlike retired hurt, which does not count as a dismissal). The distinction matters because many batting averages exclude retired-not-out innings from the denominator, similar to how genuine not-outs are treated, while retired-out innings count as a dismissal.

Returning After Retiring Hurt

A batter who retired hurt may return to bat later in the same innings, but the opposing captain's consent is required and the return must happen only at the fall of a wicket — the retired batter cannot return mid-over or in the middle of a partnership. If no further wickets fall before the innings ends (all other batters are dismissed or the innings is declared), the retired-hurt batter cannot return and their innings ends at the runs they scored before retiring. Notable examples include Andrew Flintoff retiring hurt with a knee injury mid-innings during the 2005 Ashes and returning to score valuable runs later — an iconic moment in the series.