Neither batter shall be out

Law 21 is the Law on the delivery that does not count. It does not say what a fair delivery is. It lists what disqualifies one, clause by clause, and it ends with what a no ball is worth and what it protects.

The arm

Clause 21.2. "The ball must not be thrown." A throw is defined by the elbow: it must not be straightened, partially or completely, "from that instant until the ball has left the hand". The instant is defined earlier in the clause. From it to release, the elbow holds its angle, or the delivery is a throw and the umpire calls no ball.

The feet

Clause 21.5. The back foot must land within and not touching the return crease. The front foot must land with some part of it, whether grounded or raised, behind the popping crease and on the same side of the middle-stump line as that return crease. Two feet, two creases, and "some part" doing the work: a heel in the air behind the line is behind the line.

The ball

Clause 21.7. A ball that bounces more than once, or rolls along the ground, before it reaches the popping crease. A ball that pitches wholly or partially off the pitch. Clause 21.8. A ball that comes to rest in front of the striker's wicket. A ball so far from the pitch that the striker would need to leave it to play. Clause 21.10. A ball that, after pitching, passes or would have passed over the striker's head.

These are the clauses that describe a delivery gone wrong rather than a bowler in the wrong place. The Law does not ask why the ball bounced twice. It says the delivery is a no ball, and moves on.

The rest

A bowler who changes the mode of delivery without notifying the umpire: no ball, 21.1.1. Underarm, unless agreed before the match: not permitted, 21.1.2. The bowler who breaks the wicket after the ball comes into play and before finishing the stride after the delivery stride: no ball, 21.6. The ball that touches a fielder before it reaches the striker's bat or person: no ball, 21.9.

Ten or so triggers, depending on how the clauses are counted, and no ranking among them. A front foot an inch over the line and a ball that bounces twice produce the same call, the same signal and the same consequences.

What it costs

Clause 21.15. "A penalty of one run shall be awarded instantly on the call of No ball." Instantly: not at the end of the over, not subject to anything the batters then do. The run exists the moment the word is said. It is a run the batting side gets without a batter having done anything; the clause awards it to the side, not to the striker.

What it protects

Clause 21.18 is the one that matters most to a batter. Off a no ball, "neither batter shall be out", with three exceptions: Law 34, hit the ball twice; Law 37, obstructing the field; Law 38, run out.

Look at the three. Each is something the batter does. Hitting the ball a second time, obstructing a fielder, being short of the ground on a run: the batter chose all of them. What is excluded is everything the bowler achieves. Bowled, caught, leg before, stumped, hit wicket: none of them stands off a no ball, because the delivery that produced them was not a delivery.

That is the logic of the whole Law in one clause. A no ball is not a bad ball; it is a non-ball. The run is the price of having bowled nothing, and the protection is the consequence: a batter cannot be dismissed by nothing.

Law 21, No ball: MCC Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code →

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No. 10 in By the Book, a series of 17.

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