Stumped in Cricket — Law 39 and How Stumping Works

A stumping in cricket occurs when the batsman moves out of their crease to play a delivery, misses the ball, and the wicketkeeper gathers the ball and breaks the stumps while the batsman is still out of their crease. Stumpings are most commonly taken off spin bowling — where batsmen come down the pitch to play the ball, or are drawn forward by flight — but can also occur off pace bowling.

Conditions for a Stumping

• The delivery must be a legal delivery (no no-ball) — stumpings cannot occur off no-balls
• The batsman must be out of their crease (foot or body not grounded behind the popping crease)
• The wicketkeeper must break the stumps with the ball in hand — not after a fumble where the keeper first gathers and then applies
• The batsman must not have touched the ball with their bat (if they've played the ball, even to an outside edge, it becomes a caught behind, not a stumping)

Stumpings Off Spin vs Pace

The vast majority of stumpings occur off spin bowling. Batsmen playing spinners often come down the pitch to attack (hitting the ball on the full before it can turn), or are deceived by flight and miss the ball. Off pace bowling, stumpings are extremely rare — a batsman charging a fast bowler is unusual. When they do occur off medium-pace or swing bowling, they are spectacular.

Third Umpire Review of Stumpings

Most stumping decisions now involve the third umpire, who reviews whether the batsman's foot was grounded behind the crease when the stumps were broken. The relevant frames in slow-motion video are often just 1–2 frames apart (each frame being 1/25th of a second or faster with high-speed cameras). These ultra-marginal decisions are common.

Stumping vs Wide Ball

A dismissal-type conflict exists with wide balls: if the wicketkeeper stumps the batsman off a delivery that the umpire judges to be wide, the stumping stands — the wide call is overridden if a wicket falls. However, the wicketkeeper cannot stand in front of the stumps (without gloves in front of the stumps) — the stumps must be between the wicketkeeper and the batsman.