Extra (cricket)

In cricket, an extra (sometimes called a sundry) is a run scored by, or awarded to, a batting team which is not credited to any individual batter. They are the runs scored by methods other than striking the ball with the bat.

The extras are tallied separately on the scorecard and count only towards the team's score. Giving away many extras is often considered as untidy bowling.

There are five types of extra: no-ball (nb), wide (w or wd), bye (b), leg bye (lb), and penalty run (pen).

These are extras that are awarded because the bowler or fielders have violated certain rules in how they deliver the ball to the batter (i.e. they are not bowling from far away enough, or the ball is out of the batter's reach), or where they are positioned in the field. Most methods of dismissal can not occur on an illegal delivery. Illegal deliveries do not count towards the completion of the over they occur in, and thus in limited overs cricket, illegal deliveries do not count toward the maximum number of deliveries to be bowled in the innings.

An umpire may call a no-ball when the bowler or fielder commits an illegal action during bowling.

The most common reason for a no-ball is overstepping the popping crease with the front foot. A rarer reason is when the bowler's back foot touches or lands outside the return crease. Other reasons include when a bowler throws (or chucks) the ball (meaning significantly straightening the elbow during the delivery), or bowls a full toss above waist high (a beamer), or for dangerous or unfair short pitched bowling.

The penalty for a no-ball is one run (or, in some one-day competitions, two runs, and/or a free hit); furthermore, the no-ball does not count as one of the six in an over and an extra ball is bowled.

The run awarded for the no-ball is an extra. Any additional runs scored by the batter, whether by running or by a boundary, are included in the individual's score if scored off the bat, or byes or leg byes (whichever is appropriate) if not. These are in addition to the run awarded for the no-ball. If the no-ball would also be a wide, it is only scored once, as a no-ball.