Extras: byes, leg byes, wides and no-balls
The runs a fielding side gives away rather than the batting side earning — what separates a bye from a leg bye, why a wide and a no-ball each cost a penalty run, and how each is recorded.
Overview
Extras are runs credited to the batting side that no batter scored. They fall into four regular categories — byes, leg byes, wides and no-balls — plus penalty runs awarded for specific offences.
The distinction that confuses newcomers is between a bye and a leg bye. A bye is scored when the ball passes the striker without touching bat or body and the batters run. A leg bye is scored when the ball hits the striker's body (not the bat) and the batters run. Both are extras; neither counts towards the batter's score.
Wides and no-balls cost more than the run
A penalty of one run is awarded instantly on the call of Wide ball, and likewise on the call of No ball. But the delivery also has to be bowled again, because neither counts as one of the six fair deliveries in the over.
Any runs the batters then take, or any boundary the ball reaches, are added on top of the penalty and recorded as wides or no-balls. A wide that runs away to the boundary costs five, not four.
Why the scorebook keeps them separate
Byes and leg byes are charged to nobody in particular — they reflect a ball that beat everyone. Wides and no-balls are charged to the bowler and count against their analysis. Penalty runs are charged against the fielding side as a whole.
Keeping them apart is what allows a scorecard to distinguish a wicketkeeper having a poor day from a bowler losing their radar, and it is why "extras" is one of the most honest columns on a scorecard.
How it works
- Extras are credited to the team, never to a batter.
- A bye involves no contact at all; a leg bye involves contact with the body but not the bat.
- Wide and No ball each carry an instant one-run penalty and must be bowled again.
- Runs taken off a wide or no-ball are added to the penalty.
- Wides and no-balls count against the bowler; byes and leg byes do not.
Where it’s used
Sports that use extras: byes, leg byes, wides and no-balls:
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 23 — Bye and Leg bye; Law 21 — No ball; Law 22 — Wide ball (read 2026-09-12)
How it connects
The meaning-bearing relationships that place Extras: byes, leg byes, wides and no-balls in the wider knowledge graph — each one with the reason it exists.
Builds on
Understanding these first makes this one make sense.
Explore across the knowledge base
Follow the threads that connect Extras: byes, leg byes, wides and no-balls to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Rules
- Wide ballThe 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.
- No-ballThe 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.
- Test, ODI and T20 cricket comparedThe three international formats of cricket side by side — innings structure, over limits and match length — and why almost everything that separates them is a competition rule rather than a Law.
- Cricket creasesThe 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.
- Knock-on and forward passThe rule that makes rugby a backwards-passing game — what counts as a knock-on, what makes a pass forward, and why the sanction is usually a scrum rather than a penalty.
Learning paths
Positions
- Cricket fielding positionsHow cricket names the places a fielder can stand — the off-side and leg-side halves, the forward and behind-square split, and why the same spot has a different name for each batter.
- Ice hockey positionsThe six players on the ice and what each does — centre, two wings, two defence and the goaltender — plus why hockey substitutes in lines rather than individually.
- GoalkeeperThe goalkeeper is the last line of defence in football and the only player allowed to handle the ball inside their own penalty area.
Techniques
- Forward and back defenceThe two strokes a batter survives with — the forward defensive and the back defensive — when each is the right choice, and why a defensive stroke is a decision about length rather than intent.
- Seam bowlingMovement off the pitch rather than through the air — how landing the ball on its seam deviates it at the bounce, and why seam and swing are different skills that look alike.
- 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.
- The pull and the hookThe two cross-batted strokes that punish short bowling — how the pull and the hook differ, the height of the ball that separates them, and the risk each one carries.
- Flat, slice and kick servesThe three serves and what actually separates them — the contact point on the ball and the toss that makes it possible — plus what each one does to the ball after it bounces.
Tactics
- Zone defenceA defensive system where each player guards an area of the court rather than a specific opponent.
- Point constructionHow tennis points are built rather than won — the neutral, attacking and defensive positions, what each one permits, and why most errors come from playing the wrong shot for the position.
- Strike rotationWhy singles matter more than they look in cricket — how rotating the strike unsettles a bowler's rhythm, protects a struggling batter, and is decided by the over structure itself.
- Tennis doubles formationsHow doubles teams position and why — the standard one-up-one-back start, poaching, the Australian formation and the I-formation, and what each one takes away from the returner.
- Playing spin bowlingWhat a batter actually does against a spinner — using the crease and the feet to change the length, picking the ball from the hand, and the options when the pitch is turning sharply.
Equipment
How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Scoring system
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
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- Content updated
- 2026-09-01
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