Cricket Wide Ball Explained
A wide ball is a delivery out of the batter's reach — an illegal delivery that gives the batting team a run. This guide covers wide ball laws, the difference between Test and limited-overs wide rules, and consequences.
What Is a Wide Ball?
A wide ball is a delivery that passes so far from the batter — either too wide or too high — that the umpire judges it would have been impossible for them to play with a normal cricket stroke. When a wide is called, the batting team receives one extra run, the delivery must be rebowled, and the ball counts as a delivery but not a legal ball.
Wide Markings on the Pitch
Crease markings include a dotted line at shoulder width on either side of the stumps in limited-overs cricket — the approximate guide for umpires judging wides off-side. If the ball passes beyond this line without the batter attempting a stroke, it is generally signalled wide. In practice, umpires use judgement: if the batter moves and the ball passes where they were standing, it may not be called wide.
Different Standards in Test vs Limited-Overs
Wide laws are interpreted more strictly in limited-overs cricket than in Tests. In Test cricket, only extreme deliveries are called wide — wides are rare. In ODI and T20 cricket, the standard is tighter: deliveries that pass significantly outside the off-stump line or are above shoulder height are called wide. This is to prevent bowlers from bowling defensively outside the line of the stumps.
Wides and Run Scoring
When a wide goes to the boundary, the batting team receives five runs (4 extra for the boundary plus 1 for the wide). If the wide deflects off the wicketkeeper and goes to the boundary, it is also five. Byes cannot be scored off a wide — if the keeper fails to take a wide and the batters run, those runs are wides, not byes.
Wide on the Leg Side
A ball bowled down the leg side (outside the off-side equivalent but on the on-side) is wide if the batter makes no attempt to play it and it passes outside the leg stump line. Leg-side wides are common in limited-overs cricket when a bowler overpitches or bowls too far down the leg side. In some cases a delivery may start as leg-side wide but move into the batter and be played — in which case it is not a wide.
Frequently asked questions
How many runs does a wide score?
A wide scores one run for the batting team. If the wide ball reaches the boundary, the team receives five runs total (one for the wide plus four for the boundary). The batters can also run off a wide ball, adding further runs.
Is a wide a legal delivery?
A wide is an illegal delivery — it does not count as one of the legal deliveries in the over. The over continues until the correct number of legal deliveries have been bowled, meaning an over with wides contains more than six actual deliveries.
Why are wides judged differently in T20 vs Tests?
T20 and ODI wides are called more strictly to protect batters from bowlers bowling defensively outside the stumps — a tactic that could make scoring very difficult without the stricter standard. In Tests, scoring is less time-pressured so the wide standard is more liberal.