Ways of Getting Out in Cricket: Every Dismissal Explained

Updated: 31 October 2026 · Author: Cricket Match Scorecard Editorial

Most wickets in cricket fall in one of five familiar ways, but the laws list a few more, some of which you may only see once in a decade. Here is every method, how often you are likely to see it, and which player gets the credit.

The five common dismissals

Bowled

The ball hits the stumps and dislodges a bail. It does not matter whether it touched the bat or body on the way. On a scorecard, it appears as b Das. The bowler gets the wicket.

Caught

A fielder catches the ball after it hits the bat, or the glove holding the bat, before it touches the ground. It is shown as c Khan b Verma, and if the bowler took the catch, as c & b Rao. The bowler gets the wicket and the fielder gets the catch. This is the most common dismissal in most formats.

LBW

The ball strikes the batter's body, and would have gone on to hit the stumps. It comes with several conditions, explained in our LBW guide. Shown as lbw b Rao.

Run out

The batter is out of the crease when a fielder breaks the wicket with the ball while they are attempting a run or otherwise out of their ground. It is shown as run out (Das). The bowler does not get credit, which is why a team can lose more wickets than its bowlers took.

Stumped

The batter leaves the crease to play a shot, misses, and the wicketkeeper breaks the stumps before they can get back. It is common against spin bowling, and appears as st †Pillai b Khan. The bowler gets the wicket and the keeper gets the stumping.

The rarer dismissals

Hit wicket

The batter breaks the stumps with their bat or body while playing a shot or setting off for a run. Slipping backwards on to the stumps while pulling a bouncer is the classic example. The bowler gets the credit.

Obstructing the field

The batter deliberately gets in the way of a fielder by word or action. The most frequent version is deliberately blocking a throw. The bowler gets no credit. The old dismissal called "handled the ball" was merged into this one in the 2017 revision of the laws.

Hit the ball twice

The batter deliberately strikes the ball a second time, except to protect their wicket. It is very rare, and the bowler gets no credit.

Timed out

A new batter must be ready to face within a set time of the last wicket falling. If not, they can be given out on appeal. It is so rare that when Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews was given out this way against Bangladesh at the 2023 World Cup, it was the first such dismissal in men's international cricket. The bowler gets no credit.

Retired out

A batter who leaves the field without the umpire's permission, and without an injury or similar reason, and does not return is recorded as retired out. T20 teams have started to use it tactically, withdrawing a struggling batter to bring in a stronger hitter late on. This differs from retired hurt, where the batter can come back and it is not counted as a dismissal.

Which dismissals count for the bowler?

What happens on a no-ball or a wide?

On a no-ball, a batter can only be out by run out, hitting the ball twice or obstructing the field. On a wide, they can be out by those methods as well as stumped or hit wicket. Our no-ball and free hit guide covers this in more detail.

Reading it in a real match

Look at how the wickets fell when you open a scorecard. Lots of run outs may suggest panic in a tight chase. Several stumpings and catches at long-on might indicate batters trying to hit a spinner out of the attack. Our scorecard guide shows where to find this. The full definitions are in the MCC Laws of Cricket.