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Short runs are rare, easy to miss in the middle of a busy innings and surprisingly easy to score wrongly. The umpire does the judging, but the scorer has to turn that judgement into the right number in the right column, and the right number of balls and overs. This guide covers what the Laws say, how each type of run is affected and what the book should look like afterwards.
What Is a Short Run?
A batter completes a run by grounding some part of their body or bat behind the popping crease at the far end. A short run happens when a batter turns back for another run without having made good their ground at that end. In Law 18 (Scoring Runs) of the Laws of Cricket, a short run is a run that does not count.
The most common cause is simply haste: a tight second run, a batter who turns before the bat is in, or a bat held up in the air instead of being grounded. Because no run is credited for it, it is one of the few ways a batting side can lose runs that the batters themselves physically ran.
What the Laws Say (Law 18.4)
The key points, based on the MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, are:
- The umpire calls and signals Short run when the ball becomes dead, and that run is not scored.
- If the ball goes to the boundary, the umpire disregards the short running and does not call it, unless the boundary comes from an overthrow or a wilful act of a fielder.
- If both batters run short on the same run, that counts as one short run.
- If more than one run is short, all the runs called short are not scored, and the umpire tells the scorers how many runs to record.
- A short run does not make the following run short: if the batter then makes good their ground, that later run is counted.
That last point surprises people. If the batters run three and the first one is short, the second and third can still count, so the scorer records two, not zero.
How Each Delivery Type Is Scored
The short run never changes what kind of runs they are. It only removes some of them. If you already know how cricket extras work, the rest follows.
| What happened | Runs ran | What the scorer records |
|---|---|---|
| Hit off the bat, 3 run, one short | 3 | 2 to the batter, 2 against the bowler, a legal ball |
| Bye, 3 run, one short | 3 | 2 byes, no runs to the batter or bowler |
| Leg bye, 3 run, one short | 3 | 2 leg byes |
| No ball, hit off the bat, 2 run, one short | 2 | 1 no ball plus 1 off the bat, 2 against the bowler, ball does not count |
| Wide, 2 run, one short | 2 | 1 wide for the wide itself plus 1 run, 2 wides in total |
| Hit for four after one short run | 1 (short) | 4 to the batter. Short running ignored on the boundary |
Three things to watch for:
- Byes and leg byes still go in the extras column, as the short run only reduces the count. The signal order (leg bye, then short run) is covered in our umpire signals guide for scorers.
- Wides and no balls still carry their automatic one-run extra. The short run removes a completed run, not the penalty.
- The ball still counts or doesn’t exactly as it would have anyway. A short run does not turn a legal ball into a dead ball.
Boundaries and Short Runs
The boundary rule keeps things simple for scorers: if the ball reached the rope, the boundary four or six stands and the earlier short running is disregarded, as the umpire does not call it. The one exception is a boundary that comes from an overthrow or a wilful act by a fielder. In that case the umpire follows the Laws and tells you the number of runs to record. Read our overthrow and boundary rules guide for how those runs are added.
Deliberate Short Running: 5 Penalty Runs (Law 18.5)
Short running that the umpire judges to be deliberate is treated as cheating, not a mistake. In the Laws the usual aim is to manipulate who faces the next ball, typically to farm the strike for the stronger batter. The punishment under Law 18.5 is:
- All runs are disallowed to the batting side for that delivery.
- 5 penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side.
- The batters return to the ends where they started.
- The umpire informs both captains and the scorers.
For the book, the five goes down as a penalty extra for the fielding side: it is added to that side’s total when they bat, as explained in the penalty section of the signals guide. It is not charged to the bowler and it is not credited to a batter. Write a short note in the margin, because there is rarely a column that fits.
Be careful about calling a short run deliberate yourself. That is solely an umpire’s decision, and most short runs in club cricket are plain mistakes.
Who Faces the Next Ball?
This is where scorebooks drift. If the batters physically cross twice but only one run is credited, the batter who is now at the striker’s end is simply wherever they ended up. Scorers should not guess: when a short run has been called, check with the umpire which batter is on strike and mark the book to match. A wrong strike mark will quietly corrupt every later ball and show up in your scorebook balance check.
Short Run Checklist for Scorers
- When you see the short run signal, wait for the umpire to tell you the number of runs to record.
- Subtract only the short runs, keep the extra type (bye, leg bye, wide, no ball) as it was.
- If the ball reached the boundary and no short run was called, record the boundary as normal.
- If 5 penalty runs are awarded, record them under the fielding side and note the reason.
- Confirm the batter on strike before the next ball.
Want to record this automatically during your next match? Score your match with CricPulse and enter the runs the umpire confirms, so batter, bowler and extras totals stay in step without any manual adding up.
New to scoring? Start with how to score a cricket match and keep our scorecard abbreviations key handy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a short run in cricket?
A run where a batter turns for the next run without making good their ground at the end they reached. The umpire signals Short run when the ball is dead and that run is not scored.
How many runs are given for a short run?
None for the short run itself. If three runs were run and one was short, two are recorded. If more than one run was short, the umpire tells the scorers how many to record.
Does a short run count if the ball goes for a boundary?
Normally the boundary is scored and the short running is disregarded. The exception is a boundary resulting from an overthrow or a wilful act of a fielder.
What is deliberate short running?
Short running the umpire decides was intentional. All runs are disallowed, 5 penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side and the batters go back to their original ends.
Who gets the 5 penalty runs?
The fielding side. They are penalty extras: not charged to a bowler and not credited to a batter.
How does the umpire signal a short run?
By bending the arm upwards so the fingertips touch the shoulder, once the ball is dead.
Is a short run counted against the bowler?
Only scored runs are charged to the bowler, so a disallowed run is not. Byes and leg byes are never charged to the bowler.
Do club and junior leagues treat short runs differently?
The Laws apply by default, but a league’s own playing conditions take priority where they say otherwise.