How do I score a club cricket match of any age group, junior or adult, under the MCC Laws? No balls, wides, byes, penalty runs, umpire signals, bowler credit for wickets, boundaries and overthrows, and stating the result.
Law 3 (2026 Laws) sets out the scorers' duties:
The umpires are responsible for the correctness of the scores (Laws 2.15 and 16.8), and once they have agreed the final scores with you, the result can't be changed (Law 16.10).
Which Laws? The current edition is the MCC 2017 Code, 4th Edition (2026), in force from 1 October 2026. League and competition playing conditions can change some Laws (for example free hits, wides or overs per bowler), and those apply to that competition.
Under Law 2.13 (2026 Laws), signals to the scorers are made when the ball is dead, by the bowler's end umpire (except Short run, which the umpire at that end signals first).
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| One arm extended horizontally | No ball |
| Both arms extended horizontally | Wide |
| Arm waved side to side, finishing across the chest | Boundary 4 |
| Both arms raised above the head | Boundary 6 |
| Open hand raised above the head | Bye |
| Hand touching a raised knee | Leg bye |
| Repeatedly tapping one shoulder with the opposite hand | 5 penalty runs to the batting side |
| One hand placed on the opposite shoulder | 5 penalty runs to the fielding side |
| Bending one arm up and touching the nearer shoulder with the fingertips | Short run |
| Touching both shoulders, each with the opposite hand | Revoke last signal |
| Pointing to a raised wrist with the other hand | Start of the last hour |
| Holding the ball above the head | New ball |
| Crossing and re-crossing the wrists below the waist | Dead ball |
Level 3 and 4 conduct offences have two-part signals; acknowledge each part separately.
You must acknowledge every signal straight away (Law 3.3), and the umpire waits for your acknowledgement before play continues. If several signals are given, they come in the order the events happened.
Under Law 21 (2026 Laws), the umpire signals a No ball by extending one arm horizontally, and repeats the signal to the scorers when the ball is dead.
Examples:
Competition playing conditions can vary this. For example, the ECB's 2026 20-over playing conditions made the delivery after a No ball a free hit, and the ECB's recommended Under 8 to Under 11 formats award 2 runs for a No ball without re-bowling it (except in the final over).
Under Law 22 (2026 Laws), the umpire signals a Wide by extending both arms horizontally.
Example: a Wide that the keeper misses and that runs away for 4 is 5 Wides, all against the bowler.
New in 2026: a delivery that bounces over head height of the striker standing upright is now a Wide (Law 22.1.3), not a No ball.
If the delivery is both a No ball and a Wide, No ball takes precedence and the Wide is revoked. If the ball touches the striker's bat or body before a fielder, the Wide is revoked.
Competitions can apply stricter wide rules; for example, the ECB's 2026 20-over playing conditions called a wide for any leg-side ball passing outside the batter's pads.
Byes (Law 23.1): if a delivery that isn't a Wide passes the striker without touching their bat or body, runs completed (or a boundary) are scored as Byes.
Leg byes (Law 23.2): if the ball first hits the striker's body, runs count only if the umpire is satisfied the striker either tried to play it with the bat or tried to avoid being hit. The runs are then scored as Leg byes. The umpire signals a leg bye by touching a raised knee; a bye by raising an open hand above the head.
If neither condition was met, no leg byes are allowed (Law 23.3): the umpire disallows the runs, sends the batters back, and signals No ball if applicable and any 5-run penalty (other than for the ball hitting a fielding helmet).
In the bowler's analysis: byes and leg byes are not debited to the bowler. The bowler is only debited with runs scored by the striker, No ball extras and Wides (Law 18.10.3).
Off a No ball: only the 1-run No ball penalty is recorded as a No ball extra; the remaining runs are recorded as byes or leg byes (Law 18.10.2).
The umpire signals penalty runs when the ball is dead (Law 41.17):
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Repeatedly tapping one shoulder with the opposite hand | 5 penalty runs to the batting side |
| Placing one hand on the opposite shoulder | 5 penalty runs to the fielding side |
To the batting side (Law 41.17.3):
To the fielding side (Law 41.17.4): add them as Penalty extras to that side's most recently completed innings. If it hasn't batted yet, add them to its next innings.
Penalty runs can be awarded right up until the umpires leave the field, even after a result has been reached; if that undoes the result, play continues (Law 41.17.2).
Laws that can lead to 5 penalty runs include the ball hitting a fielding side's helmet placed on the ground (Law 28.3), illegal fielding (Law 28.2), time wasting (Laws 41.9 and 41.10) and deliberate short runs (Law 18.5).
Under Law 18.8, when a batter is out:
So if the striker is caught, any runs the batters ran before the catch is completed are not scored. Law 16.6.2 applies the same principle to a winning total: runs completed before a catch from which the striker could be out don't count towards it.
Not credited to the bowler (the Laws say "the bowler does not get credit for the wicket"):
The other dismissals (bowled, caught, LBW, stumped and hit wicket) count in the bowler's wickets.
Retirements (Law 25.4)
Junior and some club formats make batters retire at a set score; follow the competition playing conditions on how those are recorded (for example, the ECB's 2026 Under 13 Club T20 recorded them as "retired not out" and didn't count them as wickets lost).
Boundaries (Law 19.7)
Overthrows and wilful acts (Law 19.8)
If the boundary comes from an overthrow or a fielder's wilful act, score:
The 2026 Laws define an overthrow as the ball crossing the boundary after a fielder directs it towards the wickets to run a batter out or stop runs. It is not an overthrow if the ball crosses the boundary because a fielder was trying to stop it, or was passing it a short distance to a team-mate near the boundary; then only the normal boundary rule applies.
Winning (Law 16.2): in a one-innings match, the side scoring more runs than the opposing side's completed innings wins.
Limited-overs matches (Laws 13.1.2 and 16.4): when innings are limited to a number of overs, the agreement (in club cricket, the league or competition playing conditions) must also say how the result is decided when neither side wins outright, for example by run rate, Duckworth/Lewis or a tie-break.
Tie (Law 16.5.1): all innings completed and the scores equal. Competitions often add tie-breaks where a winner is needed; for example, the ECB's 2026 20-over playing conditions used fewest wickets lost, then the higher score after 6 overs, 5 overs and so on, then a Super Over.
Stating the result (Law 16.7):
Winning hit (Law 16.6): the match ends as soon as the result is reached. If a boundary is scored before the batters have completed enough runs, the whole boundary allowance counts to the total (and to the striker if it was hit by the bat).
Under Law 16.9, if the umpires find a mistake that affects the result after everyone has left the field believing the match is over:
However, under Law 16.10, once the umpires have agreed the scores with the scorers at the end of the match, the result cannot be changed. That is why Law 3.2 requires scorers to check their records agree and to agree the runs, wickets and overs with the umpires at every interval (except drinks) and at the end of the match.