Ten Ways to Get Out (In cricket of course...)

With the third Ashes at Old Trafford just around the corner and the use of the review in cricket much debated we thought we’d turn our attention to the laws of cricket instead of the laws of England & Wales.

Did you know there were 10 different ways of getting out in cricket?

Do you know them all? Well, not to worry, we have attempted a mnemonic to help you remember them.

So here it is…just remember the word “BACHELORS”…

“B” Bowled

If the ball knocks one of the bails off, the batsman is out. It doesn’t matter where on his body the ball hit him first (or if he hit it) but it won’t count if it hit someone else first (1).

“A” A Time out

(OK, so we stretched the mnemonic here.) You have just 3 minutes to replace the batsman who has just been sent - out - back to the pavillion. That’s it. Late? You're out! (2)

“C” Caught

If you hit the ball and it is caught without hitting the ground, you are out. The same applies if it came off your hand if it was covering the bat - but not anywhere else - and not if your hand is off the bat at the time. (3)

“H” Handling & Hit Twice

(Two here - so perhaps should be double 'H"!). You can’t hit the ball twice (4) or handle the ball (5). If you pick up the ball without the permission of your opponents you are out (You may have seen an interesting momement when the ball lodged in Ian Bell's knee pad at the Lords Ashes test and he had to wait for the wicket keeper to come and pick it out!). If you hit the ball twice without permission you are out – except – if, and only if, you are defending your stumps.

“E” Error (In putting your wicket down!)

If you put down your own wicket you are out (But we didn't have a 'W'!). You’ll have to be starting your move to hit the ball, or while starting your run but if you knock the bails off, (a la Shane Warne) it’s all your own problem! (6).

“L” Leg before Wicket (LBW)

You can’t block the stumps with your body – only your bat. So if it hits your body when it would otherwise hit the stumps, you are out LBW (7). ‘Did he get an inside edge?’ you’ll often hear: why? Because if that happens (by however small a margin) you are not out if the ball then goes on to hit you because it hit your bat first. There are two other conditions: the ball cannot first bounce wide of the wicket on the side where the batsman’s legs are ('leg side' of the wicket); if the ball hits the batsman outside of the 'off stump' (where his bat usually is) – but was still going on to hit the stumps – but he attempts to play a shot, he is not out.

“O” Obstruction

Yes, like rugby a rule rarely exercised. If a batsman obstructs the field by action or words (8). In the Indian Premier league Yusuf Pathan recently became only the sixth person to go out this way in first class cricket. How? He was adjudged to have kicked the ball during a run, so that it went out of the way of the bowler who was trying to get to it.

“R” Run Out

If you are the wrong side of your crease (or officially, ‘popping crease’) – the line painted in front of the stumps - with play going on, and your wicket is knocked off, you are out (9).

“S” Stumped

If you don’t run you might take a step forward to take a swipe at a slow spinner. If you are out of your crease and not attempting a run, the wicket-keeper can take your wicket and then you’re out. (10)

There we are: "BACHELORS". 10 different ways to be out under the laws of cricket. Even with hot-spot, the stump microphone, ‘snicko’ (which they don’t use and why not we say?) and slow action re-plays during this summer's Ashes, factually, it still makes for many a difficult decision.

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