Explained: How wide does a delivery have to be for it to be a wide ball? What does the new MCC rule say?

Bowlers practice for hours just to get their lines and lengths right, but modern batters are almost always on the move - always looking to create space to play innovative shots to beat the fielders. Shuffling across the stumps and moving laterally across the crease to disturb the concentration and momentum of the bowler in search of quick runs, has become extremely commonplace in modern day limited overs cricket, especially in T20s. Trying to counter this and in anticipation of sudden movement by the batters, bowlers try to bowl different lines and length. They are successful sometimes and sometimes they err and the ball goes for a wide with the opposition team getting an extra run and with the bowler having to re-bowl the delivery. A wide yorker for example is a variation that bowlers these days have developed to try and stop the batters from trying to hit every possible delivery for a boundary. Read more about wide yorkers here:

Read AlsoExplained: The wide yorker and its growing popularity in T20 cricket

Taking the pitch out of the equation, a fast searing yorker is bowled at the base of the batter's boots and by the time he moves his legs to save them and before the bat comes into play, the ball, on many occasions would have already crashed into the stumps. Many batters have been injured also when

Often these wide yorkers are just too wide or the umpires feel that despite the batter having shuffled too much towards his or her off stump before the delivery was bowled, the delivery could be judged as a wide if it goes over the tramline markers. So what exactly is a wide delivery? The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) laws state the following: Law 22.11: If the bowler bowls a ball, not being a No ball, the umpire shall