Which deflections can still end in a Bowled dismissal under the MCC Laws?

The striker’s own bat or body contact does not block Bowled

For an ordinary delivery, Law 32.1 allows a Bowled decision if the ball delivered by the bowler breaks the striker’s wicket. The ball may first touch the striker’s bat or person. The examples also assume that neither No ball nor Wide applies, the wicket is fairly broken, and a valid appeal is made; this guide does not judge those inputs.

A Wide has a separate dismissal limit under Law 22.9, while Law 32.1 excludes a No ball. Do not use this page to classify whether a real delivery was wide, a no-ball or dead.

Three earlier contacts change the Bowled test

Before the ball strikes the striker’s wicket, contact with any other player, the wicket at the non-striker’s end, or an umpire excludes Bowled under Law 32.1.2. Keep the order of contact in view: a later rebound into the striker’s wicket does not erase one of those earlier contacts.

That exclusion answers only whether the dismissal is Bowled. Other dismissal methods have their own rules, so it does not prove the batter is Not out.

Bowled takes priority when its test is satisfied

If Law 32.1 is satisfied, Law 32.2 gives Bowled priority even when another dismissal against either batter could also be justified. Fairly breaking the wicket and making a valid appeal are separate prerequisites, assumed in the fictional examples here.

This page does not explain Caught, Hit wicket, LBW, Run out, Stumped or other dismissal tests. It uses those rules only to avoid treating an excluded Bowled path as a universal Not-out result.

A bat deflection and an intervening non-striker wicket

In an anonymous fictional delivery, neither No ball nor Wide has been called; lawful participant roles and a valid appeal are stipulated, both bails began in place, and the delivered ball clips the striker’s bat before completely removing a bail from the striker’s wicket without touching anyone or anything else listed in Law 32.1.2. The bat deflection does not prevent Bowled. In a separate fictional delivery with the same initial conditions, the ball first hits the wicket at the non-striker’s end and then rebounds into and fairly breaks the striker’s wicket; Law 32.1.2 prevents a Bowled decision. The same Bowled exclusion covers prior contact with another player or an umpire. These excluded paths are not universal Not-out decisions; any other dismissal would require its own conditions and is not decided here.

Sources and further reading

• MCC, The Laws of Cricket (2017 Code, fourth edition 2026), checked 2026-10-15: Laws 22.9, 29.1–29.5, 31.1–31.8, 32.1.1–32.2 and 37–39; printed/physical pages 77, 97–103 and 110–117. Other-dismissal and appeal provisions are cited only as boundaries, not tutorials.