Dismissal (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a dismissal occurs when the batsman is out (also known as the fielding side taking a wicket and/or the batting side losing a wicket). At this point a batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently for the innings. A bowling team dismisses (or bowls out) the entire batting team by dismissing 10 of the 11 players (assuming player(s) from the batting team have not retired hurt or are absent). As the players bat in pairs, when only one person is undismissed, it is not possible for them to bat any longer.

Once dismissed, a batsman cannot score any more runs in that innings. Thus dismissal is often the best way to control the runs scored in an innings, and prevent the batting side from either achieving their target score or posting a large total for the fielding side to follow in the next innings.

Additionally, in Test cricket it is usually necessary for a side fielding last to have dismissed ten players of the opposing team in their final innings to achieve victory (unless one or more of the batsmen have retired hurt or absent and unable to take the field). A batsman can only score runs from an over.

By convention, dismissal decisions are handled primarily by the players – thus if the dismissal is obvious the batsman will voluntarily leave the field without the umpire needing to dismiss him. If the batsman and fielding side disagree about a dismissal then the fielding side must appeal to the umpire who will then decide whether the batsman is out. In competitive cricket, many difficult catching and LBW decisions will be left to the umpire; if a batsman acknowledges that he is out in such cases and departs without waiting for the umpire's decision it is known as "walking", and regarded as an honourable but controversial act.

If the umpire believes he has incorrectly dismissed a batsman, he may recall him to the crease if he has not already left the field of play. An example of this was in the 2007 Lord's test match between England and India when Kevin Pietersen was initially given out caught behind, but was recalled when television replays showed that the ball had bounced before being taken by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

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