Question 1

What is a no-ball in cricket?

Accepted Answer

A no-ball is an illegal delivery. The batting side is awarded a run, the ball does not count towards the over, and the batter cannot be dismissed by most methods from it.

There are several ways to bowl one, and they fall into a few groups.

**Overstepping** is by far the most common. Some part of the bowler's front foot must land behind the popping crease — the line is not a foul line to be avoided but a limit, and the heel may be raised beyond it as long as part of the foot is behind. This is what television replays check most often.

**Illegal deliveries to the batter.** A full toss above waist height, or in limited-overs cricket a bouncer passing above head height, is a no-ball. So is a delivery that bounces more than once before reaching the batter.

**Field and fielding infringements.** Too many fielders behind square on the leg side, a fielder encroaching inside the circle during a powerplay, or a wicketkeeper moving in front of the stumps before the ball is played all produce a no-ball.

**Throwing.** A bowler must not straighten the elbow beyond a permitted tolerance during delivery.

The consequences differ between formats. In most limited-overs cricket a no-ball also brings a **free hit**: the next delivery, from which the batter can only be dismissed by run out, stumping or handling the ball.

A batter can still be run out or stumped off a no-ball, but not bowled, caught or lbw.

A **wide** is different — a delivery too far from the batter to be played normally — and also concedes a run and an extra delivery.

Question 2

What is the LBW rule in cricket?

Accepted Answer

Leg before wicket dismisses a batter whose body — usually the pad — stops a ball that would otherwise have hit the stumps. Without it, batters could simply stand in front of the wicket and block

Question 3

Why does the toss matter so much in cricket?

Accepted Answer

Because cricket is almost unique among major sports in that the surface changes substantially during the match, and the toss determines who faces which version of it. What the toss decides. The

Question 4

Why does cricket have Test, ODI and T20 formats?

Accepted Answer

Because the sport kept adding shorter versions without abandoning the long one, and each format now serves a different audience. Test cricket is the original form and the longest. Matches last up to

Question 5

What is a designated hitter, and why is it argued about?

Accepted Answer

A player who bats in place of the pitcher without fielding — a rule that split baseball for nearly fifty years and produced one of the sport's longest-running arguments. The problem it addressed.

Question 6

Where does the term hat-trick come from?

Accepted Answer

From cricket, and from an actual hat. When a bowler took three wickets with three consecutive deliveries, it was traditional for a collection to be taken up or for the club to present him with a hat

Question 7

How does a rugby lineout work?

Accepted Answer

A lineout restarts play after the ball goes out of play over the touchline. It is one of rugby union's most tactical set pieces and involves considerably more organisation than it appears. The

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