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The LBW Rule Explained: Five Conditions and How Reviews Judge Them

Leg before wicket under Law 36 of the 2026 Laws: the five conditions, pitching outside leg, the no-shot rule, and how DRS ball-tracking and umpire's call apply.

By Published 4 min read

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Key takeaways

  • Law 36 needs five things for LBW: a legal ball, pitching in line or outside off stump, hitting the batter before the bat, impact in line (or outside off if no shot was offered), and the ball going on to hit the wicket.
  • A ball that pitches outside leg stump can never give LBW, whatever happens next.
  • If the ball hits bat and pad at the same moment, the Law treats it as hitting the bat first.
  • Only the first interception counts, and the umpire assumes the ball would have carried on along its path, even after a full toss.
  • Under DRS, marginal impact or wicket readings are 'umpire's call', so the on-field decision stands and the review is not lost.

Leg before wicket, or LBW, is the dismissal with the most conditions attached. The idea is simple: a batter should not be able to stop the ball hitting the stumps by putting a leg in the way. The detail is not: Law 36 of the Laws of Cricket sets out five conditions that must all apply. This guide follows the 2026 edition of the Laws and the ICC's October 2026 Decision Review System protocol.

The five conditions

Law 36.1 says the striker is out LBW if all of these apply:

# Condition Plain English
1 The bowler delivers a ball that is not a no ball No LBW off an illegal delivery
2 The ball, unless intercepted on the full, first lands in line between wicket and wicket or on the off side Pitching outside leg stump rules LBW out
3 Without first touching the bat, the ball hits any part of the striker's person Bat first means not out
4 The point of impact is between wicket and wicket, or outside the line of off stump if the striker made no genuine attempt to play the ball with the bat Padding away outside off is risky
5 But for the interception, the ball would have hit the wicket It must be going on to hit

Condition 4 allows impact "even if above the level of the bails", so a batter hit high up can still be LBW if the other conditions are met.

Off side and leg side

The field is split lengthways into the off side and the on (or leg) side, and which half is which depends on whether the striker bats right- or left-handed; Appendix A of the Laws illustrates it for a right-handed striker. Law 36.3 fixes the off side by the striker's batting position at the moment the ball comes into play for that delivery. A batter who switches stance after the bowler starts the run-up does not change which side counts as off for LBW.

Three rules that settle hard cases

Law 36.2 adds:

  1. Only the first interception counts. If the ball hits the pad, then the bat, then the pad again, the umpire judges conditions 3 to 5 from the first contact.
  2. Bat and pad together counts as bat. If the ball touches bat and person at the same moment, it is treated as having touched the bat first.
  3. The ball is assumed to continue. For condition 5, the umpire assumes the ball would have carried on along its path, whether or not it might have bounced. That is why a full toss that hits the pad in line can be out.

How DRS ball-tracking judges LBW

In internationals, the ICC's DRS protocol turns the five conditions into measurements. First the third umpire checks the delivery was legal and whether the ball touched the bat before the pad. Ball-tracking then reports three things:

Reading Question Possible results
Pitching Where did the centre of the ball land? In line, outside off, outside leg (outside leg means not out)
Impact Where was the ball at first interception? In line, umpire's call, outside
Wicket Would it have hit the stumps? Hitting, umpire's call, missing

Umpire's call applies when the reading is marginal. For the wicket, it means the ball was hitting the stumps but its centre was not inside the "wicket zone", the outline of the stumps and bails. For impact, it means part of the ball was in line but its centre was outside. In those cases the on-field decision stands either way, and in ICC matches the team that reviewed does not lose the review.

The protocol also protects batters struck far down the pitch. When a not-out decision is reviewed and the ball was hitting, in line and pitched legally, the not-out decision still stands if the impact was 300 cm or more from the stumps, or between 250 and 300 cm with less than 40 cm between pitching and impact.

Batting against LBW

Most of the defence is in the Law itself: get the bat to the ball, or make sure any ball that hits the pad is pitching outside leg or would miss. Offering no shot to a ball outside off stump removes one of the batter's protections, which is why "padding up" is risky. A ball that turns or swings into the pads can meet all five conditions; spin bowling variations explains how spinners make the ball change direction.

How DRS works covers the whole review process, and ways to get out puts LBW alongside the other dismissals. In Cricket Sport Career Simulator, one of our sports career games, batting technique and cricket IQ are the skills that keep your cricketer's pads out of trouble.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Why is it not out LBW if the ball pitches outside leg stump?
Because Law 36 only allows LBW if the ball first lands in line between wicket and wicket or on the off side of the striker's wicket. A ball pitching outside leg stump fails that condition, so the batter cannot be out LBW to it, even if it would have hit the stumps.
Can you be LBW if the ball hits you outside off stump?
Only if you made no genuine attempt to play the ball with the bat. Law 36 requires the point of impact to be between wicket and wicket, but if the striker offered no shot, impact outside the line of off stump also counts.
Can you be LBW if the ball hits the bat first?
No. The ball must strike the batter's person without having touched the bat. If it hits bat and pad simultaneously, the Law treats it as having touched the bat first, which is not out LBW.
What does umpire's call mean in an LBW review?
It means ball-tracking shows a marginal case: for example, the ball clipping the stumps with its centre outside the wicket zone. The on-field decision then stands, out or not out, and in ICC internationals the reviewing team does not lose that review.

Sources

  1. The Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code, 4th Edition (2026) (opens in a new tab)Marylebone Cricket Club — accessed
  2. ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions, October 2026 (Appendix D: Decision Review System) (opens in a new tab)International Cricket Council — accessed

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