Umpire's Signals In Cricket

Have you ever seen the umpire in a cricket match make some weird signals…ever wondered what they meant…..well wonder no more because today I am going to demystify all of that for you and discuss the Cricket umpire’s signals.

A six is scored when the batsman hits the ball over the boundary rope without it bouncing; this is the largest run scoring shot in cricket. The umpire signals a six by raising both his hands high above his head.



A Four is scored when the batsman’s shot crosses the boundary rope, the umpire signals this by moving his hand side-to-side four or five times at waist level.




When the bowler bowls a no-ball, this is not counted as a legitimate delivery. There may be many reasons why the umpire called a no-ball such as front foot over the crease line or the ball bouncing over head-high.


If the ball from the bowler is so far away that the batsman cannot hit it, it is called a wide, and the ball has to be bowled again.

When running between the stumps, if one of the batsman does not ground his bat past the crease line, it is called as one-short; so if the batsman ran 3 runs, only 2 runs would be counted to his score.

When the batsman is out by either being caught, stumped, LBW etc, the umpire’s signal is to raise his index finger and point it to wards the batsman.

Imagine the bowler running up to the wicket, getting ready to bowl, and the ball slips out of his hand and drops in front of his feet. Obviously the batsman cannot play this and this is called a dead-ball and the ball has to be bowled again.

If the batsman fails to hit the ball from the bowler and the wicket-keeper also misses the ball, the batsman can take a run; as the bat did not touch the ball, this is known as a bye.

Sometimes, a fielder will place his helmet behind the stumps rather than in the pavilion, especially if he has to wear it whilst fielding. What would happen if the batsman hits the balls and then it hits the helmet…well the answer is that the batsman is awarded 5 runs.

If the ball hits the batsman’s pads and he takes a run, this run is not credited to his score, but is credited to the team’s score. It is called a leg-bye.

So there you have it, all the weird and wonderful cricket umpire signals that are made in a cricket match, so you can imagine how fit the umpires have to be !!