LBW: every required test must be satisfied.

The MCC baseline used here

This page applies the Marylebone Cricket Club Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 3rd Edition (2022), in force from 1 October 2022. MCC writes and interprets the Laws; a national board, league or tournament may add playing conditions, especially for video review.

Version transition: as checked on 26 August 2026, MCC's 4th Edition has been published but does not take effect until 1 October 2026. MCC's change summary lists only a terminology update for Law 36: wording about where a ball “pitches” becomes wording about its “first landing.” The ruling logic below is unchanged.

Apply the five Law 36 tests in order

1. Legal delivery: it must not be a No ball (Law 36.1.1).
2. First landing: if the ball bounced before interception, it must first have landed between the wickets or on the off side—not outside leg stump (36.1.2). A full toss skips this landing test.
3. Bat and body: before its first contact with the striker's person, the ball must not have touched the bat (36.1.3 and 36.2).
4. Impact: first impact must be between wicket and wicket, unless the striker made no genuine attempt to play the ball with the bat; only then may impact outside off stump also qualify (36.1.4).
5. Projected wicket: without that interception, the ball would have hit the wicket (36.1.5).

If all five survive, a valid appeal permits the bowler's-end umpire to give the striker Out. If any one fails, the LBW decision is Not out.

Two locations answer different questions

First landing is where a bouncing delivery initially touches the ground. A ball first landing outside leg stump cannot produce an LBW dismissal. A ball landing outside off stump can. If the striker intercepts the ball on the full, Law 36.1.2 imposes no landing requirement.

Impact is the first point where the ball contacts the striker's person. With a genuine attempted stroke, it must be between wicket and wicket. Without such an attempt, the permitted impact area expands outside off stump. It never expands outside leg stump.

An edge ends the LBW case

Law 36.1.3 requires the ball not to have previously touched the bat. Bat first, then person, is therefore Not out LBW even if the projected path hits middle stump. Person first, then bat, can still satisfy the contact test.

Law 36.2 adds two precise rules. Only the first interception is used for the contact, impact and projected-path tests. If ball, bat and person make contact simultaneously, MCC treats that as the ball having touched the bat first, so the striker is Not out LBW.

Despite the name “leg before wicket,” interception may be with any part of the striker's person—not only a pad or leg. A boot, knee or torso can qualify; the remaining tests still decide the result.

A shot changes only the outside-off impact test

The umpire judges whether the striker made a genuine attempt to play the ball with the bat. A genuine attempt means impact outside off stump cannot support LBW. If there was no genuine attempt—such as a deliberate pad-first block or a leave—the striker may be out when first impact is outside off, provided every other Law 36 condition is met.

This exception does not cure a ball first landing outside leg, impact outside leg, prior bat contact, a No ball or a projected miss. Nor does missing an attempted shot make the attempt non-genuine; quality and success are not the test.

Would the ball have hit the wicket?

Law 36.1.5 asks what would have happened without the first interception. The umpire uses the observed flight, turn, swing, seam, bounce and distance remaining to decide whether the ball would have hit the wicket. Contact in front is not conclusive: a ball may be going over the bails or past a stump.

Under Law 36.2.3, the pre-impact path is assumed to continue after impact, even if the ball might subsequently have landed. This is especially important for a full toss: the umpire does not invent a later bounce and change of height or direction after the striker has stopped it.

Impact may be above bail height and still satisfy Law 36.1.4, but the projected-path test remains separate. If the ball would have passed over the wicket, the ruling is Not out.

The off side is fixed when the ball comes into play

MCC Law 36.3 determines the off side of the striker's wicket from the striker's batting position at the moment the ball comes into play for that delivery. A later switch of stance does not redraw off stump and leg stump for the LBW tests.

This matters for switch hits and reverse strokes: analyse first landing and any no-shot impact against the off side fixed by that original batting position, not the stance visible at impact.

Law 36 conditions do not dismiss the striker automatically

Under MCC Law 31.1, an umpire does not give a batter out without a fielder's appeal. The bowler's-end umpire answers an LBW appeal. Under Law 31.3, the appeal must come before the bowler begins the run-up—or the bowling action if there is no run-up—for the next delivery, and before Time is called. Calling Over does not by itself invalidate an appeal made before the following over starts.

When the striker is given Out LBW, the ball is dead at the dismissal. Under Law 18.8, penalty runs already awarded stand, but no other runs from that delivery are credited to the batting side. The bowler receives credit for the wicket.

Umpire's Call belongs to DRS, not MCC Law 36

MCC Law 36 states the substantive LBW test. Technology and review margins come from the appointed competition's playing conditions, so “Umpire's Call” is not universal to every cricket match.

For example, the ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions effective June 2025, Appendix D, allow the batter to review an Out decision and the fielding captain to review a Not out decision within 15 seconds. Ball-tracking reports first landing, first impact and whether the ball would hit the wicket. The centre of the ball determines whether first landing is In Line, Outside Off or Outside Leg; there is no Umpire's Call category for that landing result. Where a marginal impact or wicket result classed as Umpire's Call is decisive, the original on-field decision stands. A review unchanged solely for Umpire's Call is not charged as an unsuccessful review.

The ICC protocol also leaves the “genuine attempt” judgment with the bowler's-end umpire. Other international formats and domestic competitions may use different review availability or allowances; check the playing conditions appointed for that match.

It turns back from outside leg

Situation: a legal, bouncing delivery first lands outside leg stump, strikes the striker in line without bat contact and would have hit middle stump.

MCC 2022 ruling: Not out LBW. Law 36.1.2 fails at the first-landing test; later impact and projection cannot restore eligibility.

A full toss hits in line

Situation: a legal full toss hits the striker's boot in line before touching the bat and its continuing path would hit the wicket.

MCC 2022 ruling: Out LBW on a valid appeal. Because the ball was intercepted without landing, there is no first-landing location to test; the other Law 36 conditions are satisfied.

The striker pads up outside off

Situation: the ball lands outside off stump, the striker makes no genuine attempt with the bat, first impact is outside off, and the ball would have hit the wicket.

MCC 2022 ruling: Out LBW on a valid appeal, assuming it was not a No ball and there was no prior bat contact. Law 36.1.4 allows outside-off impact only because no genuine attempt was made.

Bat and pad are simultaneous

Situation: available evidence shows the ball contacted the bat and pad at the same instant before heading towards the wicket.

MCC 2022 ruling: Not out LBW. Law 36.2.2 treats simultaneous bat-and-person contact as bat first, so Law 36.1.3 is not satisfied.

Impact is high but in line

Situation: a legal delivery first lands in line, misses the bat and strikes the thigh between wicket and wicket, but would have passed over the bails.

MCC 2022 ruling: Not out LBW. Impact above the bails is not automatically safe under Law 36.1.4, but the projected-wicket condition in 36.1.5 fails.

Five shortcuts that give the wrong answer

• “It was hitting the stumps, so it is out.” Projection is only one of five Law 36 conditions.
• “Anything outside off is safe.” First landing outside off is allowed, and outside-off impact can qualify when there was no genuine attempted stroke.
• “A full toss cannot be LBW.” It skips the landing test but must satisfy every other condition.
• “Pad means leg.” First contact can be any part of the striker's person.
• “Ball-tracking decides the Law everywhere.” DRS exists only where the competition playing conditions provide it; without DRS, the on-field umpire applies the same MCC test.

Governing-body sources and effective versions

• Marylebone Cricket Club — Law 36, Leg before wicket (2017 Code, 3rd Edition 2022)
• Marylebone Cricket Club — Law 31, Appeals (2017 Code, 3rd Edition 2022)
• Marylebone Cricket Club — Law 18.8 and 18.11, runs and ends when a batter is dismissed (2017 Code, 3rd Edition 2022)
• Marylebone Cricket Club — Law 20.1, ball becoming dead (2017 Code, 3rd Edition 2022)
• Marylebone Cricket Club — Laws editions and competition-playing-condition scope
• International Cricket Council — Men's Test Match Playing Conditions, effective June 2025, Appendix D sections 3.1–3.6 (DRS)
• Marylebone Cricket Club — Changes to the Laws for the 2026 edition, effective 1 October 2026 (Law 36 terminology)

Checked on 26 August 2026 against MCC's then-current 2017 Code, 3rd Edition (2022), the published 2026 transition notice, and ICC Men's Test DRS conditions effective June 2025. MCC Law 36 is the baseline; the appointed national, league or tournament playing conditions may supplement it, particularly for reviews.