Wicket-keeping
Byes and leg-byes: the keeper's scorecard
Byes are runs taken when the ball misses everything, and they are counted against the keeper. Leg-byes have an extra condition. Here is the difference.
Updated 29 Sept 2026
Both byes and leg-byes are extras. They are added to the batting side's total but not to the batter's score, and not against the bowler's figures.
Byes
A bye is a run scored when a legal delivery misses the bat and the batter's body, and the batters run (or the ball runs away to the boundary for 4 byes). Byes are the number that shows how tidy a wicket-keeper has been.
Leg-byes
A leg-bye is a run scored when the ball hits the batter's body or clothing (not the bat or the hand holding it), and the batters run. There is a condition: the batter must have been trying to hit the ball or trying to avoid being hit. If they just padded it away without playing a shot, the umpire calls dead ball and no runs count.
Off a wide or no-ball
If the batters run after a wide, all the runs are recorded as wides, not byes. If they run byes or leg-byes after a no-ball, the runs are recorded as no-ball extras.
Club tip: keepers, track your byes each game. Standing up to the medium pacers on a slow pitch often saves more runs than it gives away.
Official source: lords.org ↗
This is a plain-language club summary for learning. For match decisions, the official ICC Playing Conditions and MCC Laws of Cricket apply.