Extras

Extras are runs added to a team's total that no batter is credited with: wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes.

A wide is a ball the batter cannot reach with a normal stroke. It costs one run plus any the batters run, and it must be bowled again. A no-ball is an illegal delivery, most often because the bowler overstepped the front line or bowled a full toss above waist height. It costs a run, must be bowled again, and in white-ball cricket gives the batter a free hit. Both count against the bowler's figures and economy. Byes are runs taken when the ball passes the batter without touching bat or body; leg byes are runs off the body when the batter was trying to play a shot. Neither is charged to the bowler, but both are marks against the wicketkeeper and the fielding side.

Extras are the quietest way to lose a match. Ten wides in a T20 is an extra ten balls and ten runs handed over, close to two free overs, before the batters have hit anything. Disciplined attacks give away few.

In Masterstroke: ask a bowler to hunt the wide line for a whole over and the commentary will tell you when he has strayed too far.