10 Official Ways Cricket Players Can Be Dismissed

Most people only know a handful of dismissals like caught and bowled, maybe LBW. But cricket actually has 10 official ways to get out. Some you will see every match. Others? You might go a whole lifetime without spotting one live.

01 Bowled

The bowler throws the ball, the batter fails to strike it and it hits the stumps and removes the bails. Simple as that. Even if the ball bounces off the bat or pads first and then hits the stumps it still counts as bowled.

Example: Imagine Wasim Akram swinging the yorkers under the bat and hitting the stumps. It is that point when the stumps fly and this is what every bowler lives to.

02 Caught

The batter strikes the ball and one of the fielders receives it before it falls on the ground. It may be the wicketkeeper or a slip fielder or a person at the boundary. The exception is one: the fielder shall not touch the boundary rope when receiving the catch or it is a six instead.

You have likely witnessed those amazing boundary catches in the IPL when a fielder catches the ball, throws it to a colleague, runs behind, and then catches the ball. All legal and the batter walks.

03 LBW (Leg Before Wicket)

The controversial firing in cricket. The ball strikes the body of the batter rather than the bat and the umpire decides that it would have struck the stumps had the batter not blocked it. The umpire looks at the point that the ball was pitched, the point at which it was hit and the point where it was going towards. When the ball pitched out of the leg stump it is not out.

DRS and Hawk-Eye have resolved most of these disputes by recording the precise trajectory of the ball, however, near misses continue to spark endless discussions.

In Tests or PSL games you usually find batters overturning LBWs. Hawk-Eye presents the entire course of action and even the initial choice of decision reverses entirely. DRS dismissal

04 Run Out

The batters are running between the wickets, and one of the fielder throws the ball and breaks the stumps before the running batter reaches the crease. In T20 cricket such moments are pure thrillers as everything takes place within a second.

Everybody remembers Dhoni running in the final of the world cup and just managing to get his ground in a nick of a time? Or the diving run outs you are witness to at the IPL and a few centimetres can make the difference? T20 highlight reel material.

05 Stumped

This can be done by the wicketkeeper only. In a case where a batter leaves his crease to play a shot (typically against a spiner) and misses the ball, the keeper takes the ball and removes the stumps whilst the batter remains out. The distinction between a run out and the one is that the hitter was not attempting to flee anywhere. They have only gone out to play the ball.

MS Dhoni's stumpings were legendary. His glove work was so fast that umpires needed slow motion replays just to confirm it half the time. Keeper's moment

06 Hit Wicket

The batter knocks their own stumps down with the bat or body while playing a shot or starting a run. Yes, you can get yourself out. It usually happens on aggressive pull shots where the batter swings back and the bat clips the stumps by accident.

Example: Imagine you are closing in on a fifty, go for a big pull shot, and your own bat breaks your own wicket. The crowd goes quiet for a second and then just starts laughing. Rare but real

07 Obstructing the Field

If a batter deliberately gets in a fielder's way using their hand, body or anything else, they can be given out. Blocking a fielder going for a catch is the clearest example. The key word is deliberately. Accidental contact usually gets a pass from the umpire.

This is so rare in international cricket that every time it happens the clip goes viral and stays in rotation for days. People watch it on repeat because no one quite believes it. 

08 Hit the Ball Twice

If a batter hits the ball and then deliberately hits it a second time they are out. The only exception is if the ball is rolling toward the stumps. In that case the batter can knock it away to save their wicket but only once. Accidental double contact is fine. A second deliberate hit is not.

Example: This dismissal is so rare throughout cricket history that it is basically there just to make sure nobody ever tries it. The rule works. Almost nobody does. Basically just in the rulebook

09 Timed Out

When a wicket falls, the next batter has 3 minutes to reach the crease and be ready. If they are late and the fielding team appeals, the umpire can give them out. The rule exists to stop teams from deliberately wasting time between wickets.

Example: Angelo Mathews became the first ever timed out in international cricket at the 2023 World Cup. His helmet strap broke while he was getting ready. Sri Lanka appealed and the umpire upheld it. The whole stadium did not quite know how to react. First happened in 2023

10 Retired Out

A batter who leaves the field due to injury is called "Retired Hurt" and can come back later in the innings. But if they leave without any injury and just choose to walk off, they need the opposition's permission to return. No permission means they are listed as "Retired Out" on the scorecard.

Some captains use this tactically by retiring a set batter mid-innings to keep them fresh for a run chase later. It sounds clever on paper but it often backfires badly. 

Conclusion:

Now you actually know cricket. These 10 dismissals are what make cricket so layered. You have probably seen bowled and caught a thousand times. But some of these like timed out or hit the ball twice you could watch cricket for years and never see one live.

Next time a commentator says something odd during a match, you will know exactly what happened. Share this with anyone who watches cricket for the vibes but does not quite follow the rules yet.