Ask three club scorers to explain the no-ball columns in a paper book and you will get four answers. The rule itself is simple; the entries that follow it are where the confusion lives — especially when a no-ball is called and something else happens on the same delivery, which is most of the time.
This piece walks through six worked examples covering every no-ball situation a scorer actually meets in a match. Each example ends with the exact taps in ForthUmpire and the columns that move in a paper book. Read once now, refer back on match day if a delivery has you doubting yourself.
What the umpire is calling
Before the examples: the four reasons a modern umpire calls no-ball, in decreasing frequency at a club match.
- Front-foot fault. Some part of the bowler's front foot lands entirely beyond the popping crease. The most common no-ball you will see in a season.
- Waist-height full toss. A ball reaching the batter above waist height without bouncing. Applies to fast bowling; the height limit varies with format for spin.
- Above-shoulder bouncer. A ball passing the batter's shoulder off the pitch when the batter is standing upright. Two per over is the usual cap; the third bouncer, if called, is a no-ball.
- Illegal action. Rarer; a ball delivered off the wrong action or from the wrong side of the crease. Umpire's call, always.
Every one of these gets the same one-arm-out signal from the umpire. What differs is what happens next on the same delivery — and that is what your scorecard has to capture accurately.
Example 1 — front-foot no-ball, batter blocks it back
Bowler oversteps. Umpire calls no-ball. The batter takes an easy step forward and blocks the ball back down the pitch. Neither batter runs.
What actually happened. One illegal delivery, one penalty run to the batting side, no runs off the bat, no bye, no leg-bye. The delivery does not count as one of the six legal balls in the over.
Tap in Quick Match. Tap no-ball. When the follow-up prompt asks how many runs came off the bat, tap 0. The team total goes up by one. The bowler's over count stays at whatever ball number they were on.
Paper book. A no-ball symbol in the bowler's over strip; a "1 nb" in the extras row; the striker's runs column is untouched.
Example 2 — front-foot no-ball, batter hits four
Same overstep. This time the batter picks the length, drives it through the covers, and the ball rolls over the rope.
What happened. One illegal delivery, one penalty run, four runs to the batter, and the boundary counts. In most codes the boundary runs credit the batter's individual score and the team total; the penalty run is one extra on top.
Tap. No-ball, then 4 on the runs prompt. The striker's card ticks up by four; the extras row ticks up by one; the team total ticks up by five for that delivery.
Note. A minority of format-specific rules (short-format tournaments in India, some indoor cricket codes) upgrade the no-ball penalty to two runs — but the rule of the boundary going to the batter is universal. Set the penalty once in match settings and stop thinking about it.
Example 3 — front-foot no-ball, batter misses, pad deflects to leg
Overstepped delivery, batter plays and misses, ball strikes the pad and rolls out towards midwicket. Batters run one.
What happened. Two extras on the same ball: a no-ball (one penalty) and a leg-bye (one run). Neither is credited to the batter. Both go through the bowler.
Tap. No-ball, then on the runs prompt choose leg-byes with a count of 1. The extras row shows both the no-ball penalty and the leg-bye. The striker's card is untouched. The bowler's over count stays where it was; the delivery is not one of the six.
Common mistake. Recording the run as coming off the bat because the batters ran. The umpire's leg-bye signal is what settles it; if you missed the signal, ask at the end of the over.
Example 4 — waist-height full toss, batter caught in the deep
Fast bowler drops a full toss around chest height. The batter mishits it, top-edge to deep midwicket, taken cleanly. The umpire calls no-ball.
What happened. The batter is not out. Catches off no-balls do not count. One penalty run to the batting side. The delivery is a dead ball for the purposes of wickets, but the batters can still run — and they did not, because they stopped to watch the catch.
Tap. No-ball, then 0 on the runs prompt. Do not open the wicket dialog; nothing has changed on the wickets column. If the umpire also called a free hit, the next-ball prompt in Quick Match will remind you.
Paper book. A "1 nb" in the extras row; the batting card, the wickets column and the fielder line are all untouched. The bowler is annoyed but the scorer is not.
Example 5 — front-foot no-ball, batter run out attempting the single
Overstep, the batter clips it to mid-on, both batters set off for one. Direct hit from the fielder catches the non-striker short of the crease.
What happened. Run out stands. Run out is one of the three dismissals still valid off a no-ball. One penalty run to the batting side; the run they attempted is not scored because the batter was out short of it. The non-striker is out.
Tap. No-ball, then 0 on the runs prompt (they never completed the run), then open the wicket dialog and record run out with the non-striker as the dismissed batter. The new incoming batter comes in as the non-striker for the next delivery.
Paper book. Extras row: "1 nb". Wickets column: the non-striker, mode "run out". Bowler's over count: unchanged. The bowler does not get the wicket in their bowling figures.
Example 6 — free hit off a no-ball
Front-foot no-ball on the previous ball has triggered a free hit for the next delivery. The bowler bowls a legal ball; the batter miscues it, and the keeper catches the top edge.
What happened. Not out. On a free-hit delivery the batter can only be dismissed by the same three modes as a no-ball — run out, hit the ball twice, or obstructing the field. Bowled, caught, LBW and stumped are all off the table for one ball. The runs off the bat, if any, do count.
Tap. Score the delivery as a normal ball with the runs the batters made (0 in this example, since it was a top edge and the ball was caught). Do not open the wicket dialog; the free-hit indicator in the app suppresses the catching prompt.
Note. The free hit only extends to the next legal ball, not the next legal ball off the same bowler. If there is another no-ball on the free-hit delivery itself, the free hit rolls over to the next legal one after that. Two consecutive no-balls both give two free hits — one for each.
The quick reference — which columns move
Fold the six examples into a short table you can keep on the boundary bench:
- No-ball + dot: extras +1, everything else unchanged.
- No-ball + runs off bat: extras +1, striker's runs +the count, team +the total.
- No-ball + bye/leg-bye: extras +1 (no-ball) + the bye count, no batter credit.
- No-ball + caught: extras +1, batter not out, wicket unchanged.
- No-ball + run out: extras +1, run out stands, no bowler credit for the wicket.
- Free-hit ball: normal delivery; wickets only for run out, hit ball twice, obstructing the field.
The one habit that saves the most arguments
Score the umpire's signal, not the crowd's opinion. A front-foot no-ball can look tight from the boundary; a waist-height full toss can look fine from the sightscreen. If the umpire's arm is out, the ball is a no-ball, even if you think it was not. If the umpire's arm stayed down, the ball is legal, even if you think it should not have. The scorecard is a record of decisions the umpire made, not a re-adjudication of them.
Everything else — the arithmetic, the free-hit prompt, the "does the wicket count" question — the app handles once you have tapped the no-ball. If you would like to see the flow before your next match, start a Quick Match against yourself and score a few no-balls on purpose; ten minutes of practice is enough to make match-day nerves disappear.