How do I deal with time-wasting and a batter who is late to the crease?
Rule- Gauteng
- Central Gauteng Lions
- Club cricket
- Senior
- MCC Laws of Cricket
- 2025/26
- Umpires
Under the CGL 2025/26 playing conditions (umpires are told to apply these strictly):
Fielding side:
- First instance: call and signal dead ball if necessary, and give the fielding side a first and final warning.
- Any further instance in that innings:
- if it's between overs, award 5 penalty runs to the batting side and tell the fielding captain why
- if it's during an over, have the fielding captain take the bowler off immediately; that bowler may not bowl again in the innings
- tell the other umpire, the batters and, as soon as possible, the batting captain, and report it to the Umpires and Clubs Administrator.
Batting side (timed out): an incoming batter is out timed out, on appeal, if they take more than 1½ minutes from the fall of the wicket to be ready to receive the next ball (or for the striker to be ready, if the new batter is the non-striker). If they aren't ready within 1½ minutes, treat it as time-wasting under Law 41.10 whether or not there's an appeal, and report the incident to CGL.
Time you allow the fielding side for the batting side's time-wasting is taken off the batting side's own over-rate allowances.
Added 22 Oct 2026