User Question
What is a wide in cricket?
Correct Answer Pattern
A wide is a delivery ruled unplayable because it passes too far from the batter's normal reach. The umpire signals wide immediately after the delivery.
Wide results:
- 1 penalty run added to the batting team's score as an extra
- Delivery must be re-bowled (does not count as a legal ball)
- Batter cannot be dismissed by most methods (but can be stumped off a wide)
T20/IPL wide rule (stricter than Tests): In T20 cricket, the wide rule is wider — the umpire will call wide for deliveries that pass outside the off-stump or well down the leg side. The specific line varies by how far the ball passes outside the stumps. IPL enforces a tighter standard to discourage negative bowling outside off-stump.
Stumped off a wide: This is the exception — a batter who steps out of their crease to reach a wide delivery can be stumped (the wicket-keeper breaks the stumps while the batter is outside the crease). It's relatively rare but legal.
Required Concepts
- Wides appear in the extras section of a scorecard — they are not attributed to any batter's score
- A bowler's economy rate in CricketStudio INCLUDES runs from wides — they are the bowler's responsibility
- "Going down leg" (a wide down the leg side in T20) is a common bowling error in the death overs — a yorker aimed at the off stump that goes far down the leg side becomes a wide + free ball
Required Metrics
- No specific wide count metric in CricketStudio claims
- Wides contribute to economy rate calculations in CricketStudio
Citation Behavior
- Define wide as a penalty delivery outside the batter's normal reach.
- State the consequences: 1 run, re-bowl, can't be out (except stumped).
- Note the stricter T20 wide standard vs Tests.
Caveats
- The umpire's wide call is subjective based on the batter's normal stance and reach — a batter who moves across the crease may make what was a wide delivery legal (if they move into position to play it)
- Wides from deliberate negative bowling (e.g., sending the ball wide outside off to slow the scoring) are penalised more harshly in T20 than in Tests
Bad Answer (do not do this)
"A wide doesn't cost the bowling team anything." (A wide costs the fielding team a penalty run AND an extra delivery — effectively making their "over" contain 7+ balls instead of 6, burning time and giving the batting team an additional chance at runs. Multiple wides in a death over are a major strategic failure.)