Does a wide count toward the six legal balls?

No. The bowler bowls again, so the over is one ball longer.

Does a wide break a maiden?

Yes. Wides are charged to the bowler, so the over is not a maiden.

CricSport

Start scoring

Glossary

Wide

A delivery judged too wide to score from under the playing conditions. It is an extra and not a legal ball of the over.

Photo: Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

The umpire calls a wide when the ball is out of the batter's reach in a normal stance. A wide adds one run to the batting side as an extra, plus any runs run off it. The bowler is charged with the runs.

Because a wide is not a legal ball, the bowler has to bowl the ball again and the over runs on. A batter can be stumped or run out off a wide, but not bowled.

Match questions

Questions scorers actually ask

01 Does a wide count toward the six legal balls?: No. The bowler bowls again, so the over is one ball longer.
02 Does a wide break a maiden?: Yes. Wides are charged to the bowler, so the over is not a maiden.

Keep reading

From the cricket library

All articles

Photo: Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0LawHandled the ball and obstructing the fieldTwo rarely seen dismissals: a batter handles the ball without permission, or obstructs a fielder deliberately. Both are recorded as the mode, and both are decided by the umpire.
Photo: Ank Kumar, CC0GlossaryHat-trickThree wickets in three consecutive balls by one bowler, which may span overs. Mark it; do not skip balls to make it look prettier.
Photo: CPE Management, CC BY-SA 4.0FormatMulti-day cricket for scorersMulti-day cricket adds follow-ons, declarations, and new-ball overs. The scorer tracks innings, not just overs.
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domainBlogWhy the Ashes is a joke that never stoppedThe oldest rivalry in the sport is named after a satirical obituary printed in 1882, and the trophy is a small urn. That accident of humour is a good introduction to how cricket rivalries actually form.
Photo: Aravind Sivaraj, CC BY-SA 3.0BlogStrange ways to lose your wicketEveryone knows bowled, caught, and lbw. The Laws also contain a set of rare dismissals that scorers should recognise on sight, because they turn up perhaps once in a career and then have to be written correctly.