Unfair Play in Cricket: Law 41 and Player Conduct

Unfair play in cricket is governed by Law 41 of the Laws of Cricket, and player conduct by Law 42. The two are easy to confuse because the numbering moved. In the 2000 Code, unfair play was Law 42, and plenty of older articles still call it that. Since the 2017 Code, and in the 2026 edition now in force, Law 41 covers ball tampering, dangerous bowling, time wasting, pitch damage and distraction, while Law 42 deals with dissent, abuse and violence and gives umpires the power to send a player off.

This guide sets out what each law covers, how the warning and penalty sequences work, and where the famous incidents fit. If you play club cricket, the parts most likely to affect you are the ones about running on the pitch, wasting time and arguing with the umpire.

What Law 41 Covers

Law 41 opens by putting responsibility on the captains. Under 41.1 they are responsible for ensuring play is conducted within the Spirit of Cricket as well as within the Laws. Under 41.2 the umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play, and they can act against any action they consider unfair even if no other Law covers it. The sections that follow deal with specific offences:

• 41.3 changing the condition of the match ball
• 41.4 and 41.5 deliberately distracting, deceiving or obstructing a batter
• 41.6 and 41.7 dangerous and unfair short-pitched and non-landing deliveries
• 41.8 deliberate front-foot no balls
• 41.9 and 41.10 time wasting by the fielding side and by batters
• 41.11 to 41.15 the protected area and damage to the pitch by bowlers, fielders and batters
• 41.16 batters stealing a run during the bowler's run-up
• 41.17 how penalty runs are awarded and recorded

One thing that is no longer in Law 41 is the run out of a non-striker who leaves the crease early. That dismissal, often called the Mankad, was moved to Law 38 on run outs in the 2022 revision, which was the MCC's way of saying it is an ordinary dismissal rather than a form of unfair play.

How the Warnings and Penalties Work

Most of Law 41 follows the same shape. The first offence brings a first and final warning, delivered to the captain and applying to the whole team for the rest of the innings or match. A repeat brings five penalty runs to the other side, and in bowling offences the bowler is suspended from bowling. Every award of penalty runs is also reported after the match to the governing body, which can take further action against the captain, the player or the team.

The details differ by offence, and the differences matter:

• Ball condition (41.3). There is no warning. If the umpires decide the ball's condition has been unfairly changed, the opposing captain is offered a replacement ball of comparable wear and five penalty runs are awarded straight away. A second offence by the fielding side in the same match also sees the bowler of the previous ball suspended for the rest of the match. A fielder may polish the ball on clothing using sweat only, remove mud under the umpire's supervision, or dry it on an approved cloth. Anything else is tampering.
• Short-pitched bowling (41.6). A short delivery is dangerous if, allowing for the striker's skill, its speed, length, height and direction make injury likely. Protective equipment is disregarded. Repeated deliveries over head height can be ruled unfair even if they are not dangerous. The first such ball is called a no ball and the bowler receives a first and final warning for the innings. The next one is a no ball and the bowler is suspended for the rest of the innings.
• Beamers (41.7). Any delivery that would pass above waist height without bouncing is a no ball. If the umpire judges it dangerous, the bowler is warned, and a second dangerous one means suspension for the innings. A deliberate beamer skips the warning entirely and the bowler is removed for the rest of the match.
• Deliberate front-foot no ball (41.8). No warning. The bowler is suspended from bowling for the rest of the match.
• Time wasting by fielders (41.9). One warning to the captain. After that, time wasted between overs costs five penalty runs, and time wasted during an over sees the bowler suspended for the innings.
• Time wasting by batters (41.10). The striker should be ready when the bowler is ready to start the run-up. Both batters receive one warning that applies to every batter for the rest of the innings, and any repeat costs the batting side five penalty runs, which are added to the fielding side's total.
• Pitch damage (41.11 to 41.15). The protected area is the strip of pitch starting five feet in front of each popping crease and extending one foot either side of the line between the middle stumps. A bowler who runs on it in the follow-through without reasonable cause is cautioned, then given a final warning, and suspended for the innings on the third occasion. Fielders and batters who cause avoidable damage get one warning, then five penalty runs. A striker may not take guard inside the protected area or so close to it that encroachment is inevitable.
• Stealing a run (41.16). If the batters try to run while the bowler is still in the run-up, the umpire calls dead ball, the run is disallowed, the batters go back and five penalty runs go to the fielding side.

Penalty runs are scored as extras. When awarded to the batting side they sit on top of anything scored from the delivery, and the batters do not change ends because of them. When awarded to the fielding side they go onto that side's most recently completed innings, or its next one if it has not batted yet. Law 41.17 also states that penalty runs are awarded right up to the moment the umpires leave the field, even if a result has already been reached, and if the award means a result has no longer been achieved, the match continues.

Ball Tampering and the Sandpaper Case

Ball tampering is the most visible form of unfair play because it changes the contest directly. Altering one side of the ball changes how it moves through the air, which is why the Law lists exactly what a fielder may do to the ball and treats everything else as an offence.

The incident that brought the Law into public view was the third Test between South Africa and Australia at Cape Town in March 2018, when Cameron Bancroft was filmed working on the ball with sandpaper. Cricket Australia banned Steve Smith and David Warner for twelve months and Bancroft for nine. The Guardian's account of how the plan unfolded is still the fullest telling of it. Later that year the ICC raised changing the condition of the ball to a Level 3 offence under its own code of conduct, which allows much longer suspensions than the five-run penalty the Laws provide on the field.

Earlier cases, from the Vaseline accusations against John Lever in 1977 to Pakistan's forfeited Test at The Oval in 2006, are covered in our piece on the biggest ball tampering scandals. The point they all share is that the on-field penalty is modest and the reputational cost is not.

Law 42 and the Four Levels of Misconduct

Law 42 was new in the 2017 Code and for the first time gave umpires in every form of the game the power to remove a player from the field. It sorts unacceptable conduct into four levels. In each case the umpire calls dead ball, the two umpires agree the level together, the offending player's captain is summoned, and the incident is reported after the match.

• Level 1. Mistreating equipment or the ground, dissent at an umpire's decision, obscene or insulting language, obscene gestures, excessive appealing, or advancing on an umpire aggressively when appealing. A team's first offence at any level draws a first and final warning. Any later Level 1 offence by that team costs five penalty runs.
• Level 2. Serious dissent, deliberate physical contact with another player, throwing the ball at or near someone in a dangerous manner, or seriously insulting language towards a player, umpire, official or spectator. Five penalty runs are awarded immediately.
• Level 3. Intimidating an umpire by language or gesture, or threatening to assault a player or anyone else who is not an umpire. The player is removed from the field, for ten overs in a match of unlimited overs or for one fifth of the innings in a limited-overs match, and five penalty runs are awarded. No substitute is allowed while a fielder is off, and a batter who is sent off may only resume at the fall of a wicket.
• Level 4. Threatening to assault an umpire, deliberate physical contact with an umpire, physically assaulting anyone, or any other act of violence. The player is removed for the rest of the match, is recorded as retired out if batting, and five penalty runs are awarded.

If a captain refuses to remove a player at Level 3 or 4, the umpires award the match to the other side under Law 16. If both captains refuse over the same incident, the umpires take the players off and there is no result.

How the Laws Differ From Playing Conditions

The Laws are the framework. International cricket and the major leagues add their own playing conditions on top, and those are what you see enforced on television. The two-bouncer limit per over in Test cricket, the over-rate penalties that cost a fielder outside the circle in white-ball formats, and the fines and demerit points handed out by match referees all come from the ICC's playing conditions and code of conduct rather than from Law 41 or Law 42. The same is true of the free hit, which is a playing condition rather than a Law.

Club cricket in the UK generally plays to the Laws with light local amendments, so the sequences above are what a league umpire will apply. The things that catch club players most often are the least dramatic ones: a bowler who keeps running down the middle of the pitch, a batting side that slows the game down with the light fading, and a fielder who cannot leave an umpire's decision alone.

Why Law 41 Still Matters

Most of cricket's greatest matches never needed Law 41 at all, and that is the point of it. The Law exists so that the contest between bat and ball is decided by skill rather than by whoever is prepared to bend the ball, the clock or the pitch furthest. The penalties are deliberately graduated. A warning first, then five runs, then a suspension, with the serious consequences left to the governing body after the match.

If you are reading this because you have been warned, or because an opposition captain has quoted a law number at you, the one check worth making is which Code your competition plays to. Under anything from 2017 onwards, unfair play is Law 41 and conduct is Law 42. The older numbering only survives in older articles.

Sources

The text of Law 41 and Law 42 is published by the MCC at Lord's. The Cape Town account is from The Guardian, 14 November 2018.