Overthrow (cricket)

In cricket, an overthrow (sometimes called a buzzer) is an extra run scored by a batsman as a result of the ball not being collected by a fielder in the centre, having been thrown in from the outfield. Overthrows usually occur when a fielder aims unsuccessfully at the stumps in an attempt to run out a batsman, although sometimes they are due to handling errors by the fielder receiving the ball.

Runs scored in this manner are counted in addition to any runs already scored before the fielding error took place, and are credited to the batsman. If the ball reaches the boundary as a result of an overthrow then the four runs for the boundary is added to the number of completed runs before the overthrow, which can lead to the unusual event of a batsman scoring more than six runs off a single ball. There have been at least four instances in Test cricket of eight runs being scored off a single ball. The most recent was by Andrew Symonds for Australia against New Zealand at Brisbane in November 2008, when the batsmen managed to run four runs before the ball was thrown back over the wicket keeper's head for a four-run boundary.

It is possible for the ball to be thrown over more than once from the same ball, leading to even more runs being scored. In theory there is therefore no limit to how many runs may be scored off a single ball.