Timed out is a dismissal; time-wasting is a separate unfair-play offence.

Which rules this page applies

The general baseline is the MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 3rd Edition (2022), effective from 1 October 2022. MCC is the custodian of the Laws; national boards, leagues and tournament organisers may replace parts of them through playing conditions.

MCC has published a 4th Edition dated 2026, but it does not take effect until 1 October 2026. It is therefore not the controlling MCC edition on this page's check date. Its Law 40 retains the same 3-minute test. The competition comparison below uses the ICC men's playing conditions listed as current by ICC: Tests effective June 2025, and ODIs and T20Is effective July 2025.

The limit depends on the appointed ruleset

• MCC Laws: 3 minutes under Law 40.1.1.
• ICC men's Tests and ODIs: 2 minutes under clause 40.1.1.
• ICC men's T20Is: 1 minute 30 seconds under clause 40.1.1; the conditions also expect the incoming batter to make for the wicket immediately and require dugouts.

These are readiness deadlines, not general targets for every match. Domestic competitions, age-grade cricket and individual tournaments may use different playing conditions, so identify the appointed rules before starting a stopwatch.

The complete timed-out test

1. A wicket falls or a batter retires. The rule covers both events even though a retirement is not necessarily recorded as a wicket.
2. Time has not been called. MCC Law 12.2 uses that formal call at the end of a session or where another Law requires it; ordinary dead-ball time is not automatically the same thing.
3. At the applicable deadline, neither the incoming batter is ready to receive the ball nor the other batter is ready to receive the next ball.
4. A fielder makes a valid appeal. Under MCC Laws 31.1 and 31.3, an umpire does not give the batter out without an appeal, and the appeal must precede the next run-up or bowling action and the call of Time.

If every test is met, the incoming batter is out Timed out. No delivery is added to the over, and Law 40.2 gives the bowler no credit for the wicket.

Reaching the field is not the legal test

MCC changed Law 40 in 2022 from being “in position to take guard” to being ready to receive the ball. The deadline is therefore not satisfied merely because the incoming batter has crossed the boundary, reached the pitch or begun adjusting equipment.

The alternative wording matters: if the not-out batter will face the next delivery and is ready within time, Law 40.1.1 is satisfied even if the incoming batter is not the next striker. The Law asks whether one of the two specified batters is ready to receive; it does not always require the incoming batter to face.

There is no automatic equipment exemption

Law 40's express qualification is “unless Time has been called.” It does not create a separate grace period for a broken helmet, a missing bat, confusion over the batting order or a long walk from the dressing room. If one of those problems leaves both batters unready at the deadline, the incoming batter is liable to be out on appeal.

A formal interval or interruption for which the umpire has called Time is different: the Law 40 readiness requirement is not operating while play is stopped. The practical record should therefore distinguish the ball becoming dead after a wicket from the umpire's formal call of Time.

An appeal is required and may be withdrawn

Expiry of the limit makes the incoming batter liable to dismissal; it does not remove the appeal requirement. If nobody appeals, the umpire does not simply record Timed out. A delay may still raise the separate batter time-wasting procedure, depending on the facts and the appointed playing conditions.

Under MCC Law 31.8, the fielding captain may withdraw an appeal only with the responsible umpire's consent. That must happen before the next ball comes into play or, if the innings has ended, before the umpires leave the field. In ICC matches using DRS, Timed out is expressly excluded from Player Review: the television-review system is not a second route of appeal against this decision.

No batter arriving can become a refusal-to-play issue

One Timed out dismissal is not the whole answer when nobody comes to the wicket. MCC Law 40.1.2 says that, after an extended delay, the umpires use the Law 16.3 procedure for a possible refusal to play; for that procedure, the action is treated as starting when the 3 minutes expires.

The umpires must establish the cause. If they jointly decide that the side is refusing to play, they inform its captain; if the captain persists, the match is awarded to the other side. It is not an automatic match forfeiture at 3:01. ICC conditions use the same structure but refer the ultimate match award to the ICC Match Referee under clause 16.2.

Batter time-wasting is not another dismissal

During ordinary play, MCC Law 41.10 says it is unfair for a batter to waste time. In normal circumstances the striker should be ready to take strike when the bowler is ready to start the run-up. The provision also reaches time-wasting “in any other way,” leaving the factual judgment to the umpires.

For the first instance, the umpire warns both batters with a first and final warning. It remains in force for the innings, and each incoming batter must be informed. On any further instance by any batter in that innings, the umpire waits for the ball to be dead, awards 5 Penalty runs to the fielding side, informs the relevant people and joins the post-match report to the side's executive and governing body.

Fielding-side delay has an unusual split sanction

If an umpire considers an over unnecessarily slow or the captain or any fielder to be wasting time in another way, the first MCC instance produces a first and final warning to the fielding captain. If the ball is in play, the umpire first calls and signals Dead ball.

For any further fielding-side instance in that innings, Law 41.9.3 separates two situations:

• Not during an over: 5 Penalty runs are awarded to the batting side.
• During an over: the captain must suspend the current bowler immediately; that bowler cannot bowl again in the innings.

If another bowler must complete the over, that player cannot have bowled any part of the previous over and cannot bowl any part of the next over. The umpires also make a post-match report. The suspension attaches to the current bowler even if another fielder caused the further delay.

ICC uses 5 runs and a separate 60-second stop clock

The current ICC men's Test, ODI and T20I conditions modify MCC's second fielding-side sanction. Under ICC clause 41.9.3, any further fielding-side time-wasting in the innings brings 5 Penalty runs to the batting side; it does not use MCC's during-an-over bowler suspension. Deliberate or repetitive conduct may also be reported under the ICC Code of Conduct.

ICC clause 41.9.4 separately requires the fielding side to be ready to start each over within 60 seconds of the previous over ending. The clock can be cancelled for a new batter between overs, an official drinks interval, approved on-field treatment, or circumstances outside the fielding side's control. The first breach is a warning, the second is a final warning, and the third and each later breach earns the batting side 5 Penalty runs. This sequence operates independently of clause 41.9.2–41.9.3; in Tests its count resets after each block of 80 overs.

Do not merge three different enforcement systems

A Timed out appeal, an on-field unfair-delay penalty and a competition's over-rate calculation answer different questions. ICC limited-overs conditions, for example, have separate clause 13.8 consequences when the fielding side is not ready to begin the required final over by the scheduled cessation time, as well as possible Code of Conduct penalties.

That means a side can comply with the 60-second between-over clock yet still fall behind the required innings over rate, or commit a specific act of time-wasting without being behind the overall rate. Apply each provision on its own terms and use the competition's published time allowances.

The batter is on the square but still not ready

Situation: after a wicket, the incoming batter reaches the pitch after 2 minutes 45 seconds but is still replacing a glove when 3 minutes expires. The other batter is not ready to receive. Time has not been called, and a fielder appeals.

Ruling: out Timed out under MCC Law 40.1.1. The decisive fact is readiness to receive the next ball, not physical arrival. The equipment problem supplies no automatic exception, and the bowler receives no wicket credit.

The other batter is ready after the over

Situation: the striker is dismissed from the sixth ball of an over. At the start of the next over, the not-out batter is the next striker and is ready at 2 minutes 40 seconds; the incoming batter is still approaching.

Ruling: not out Timed out. MCC Law 40.1.1 is satisfied because the other batter is ready to receive the next ball within 3 minutes. The Law provides alternatives; the incoming batter does not have to be the one facing.

Ninety seconds expires in a T20I

Situation: neither batter is ready 1 minute 30 seconds after a dismissal, Time has not been called and the fielding side appeals.

Ruling: the incoming batter is out Timed out under ICC Men's T20I clause 40.1.1. Using MCC's 3-minute baseline would be wrong because the appointed ICC T20I conditions replace it. The batter cannot use a Player Review for Timed out.

A second fielding delay occurs mid-over

Situation: after the fielding captain has already received the innings warning, a fielder deliberately delays returning the ball during an over. The ball is still in play when the umpire intervenes.

Ruling: the umpire calls and signals Dead ball, and the captain must suspend the bowler for the rest of the innings under MCC Law 41.9.3. Under current ICC men's conditions the corresponding further offence instead produces 5 Penalty runs, showing why the ruleset must be named.

How to resolve a cricket timing incident

1. Name the competition and its effective playing conditions; select 3 minutes, 2 minutes or 90 seconds only after that check.
2. Ask whether the trigger was a wicket or retirement. If not, Timed out is not the correct provision.
3. Confirm whether Time was formally called, rather than assuming every dead ball stops the requirement.
4. At the deadline, decide whether the incoming batter or the other batter was ready to receive the next ball.
5. For Timed out, confirm a valid fielding appeal. Then check any permitted withdrawal; in ICC DRS matches, exclude Player Review.
6. For other delay, identify the responsible side, prior warnings and whether MCC Law 41 or a competition replacement applies.
7. Apply stop-clock and overall over-rate provisions separately if the competition has them.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong answer

• “Every batter gets 3 minutes”: not in current ICC men's internationals; Tests and ODIs use 2 minutes and T20Is use 90 seconds.
• “Crossing the rope is enough”: the operative MCC wording is ready to receive the ball.
• “The incoming batter must face next”: the other batter's readiness can satisfy Law 40.
• “Expiry means automatic dismissal”: a valid appeal is still required.
• “All time penalties are slow-over penalties”: Timed out, unfair time-wasting, the ICC stop clock and overall over-rate sanctions are distinct.

MCC and ICC source material

• MCC, Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 3rd Edition (2022) — effective 1 October 2022; Laws 12.2, 16.3, 31, 40 and 41.9–41.10.
• MCC, Full explanation of changes to the Laws (2022) — Law 40's change from taking guard to being ready to receive.
• MCC, announcement of the 2017 Code, 4th Edition (2026) — confirms its future effective date of 1 October 2026.
• MCC, Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 4th Edition (2026) — future edition effective 1 October 2026; Law 40 retains the 3-minute readiness test.
• ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions, effective June 2025 — clauses 13, 40.1, 41.9–41.10 and Appendix D paragraph 3.1.
• ICC Men's ODI Playing Conditions, effective July 2025 — clauses 13.8, 40.1 and 41.9–41.10.
• ICC Men's T20I Playing Conditions, effective July 2025 — clauses 13.8, 40.1, 41.9–41.10 and Appendix D paragraph 3.1.
• ICC, current Playing Conditions index — use this to check later editions, women's conditions and event-specific replacements.

Source note: checked on 26 August 2026 against the MCC edition then in force and the ICC men's documents then listed as current. The MCC baseline does not override national, league, age-grade or tournament playing conditions; those must be checked for the match concerned.