Body contact alone does not qualify runs as leg byes. The umpire must also assess the striker’s action. These hypothetical examples assume body contact with no later bat contact, boundary or penalty.
The condition the umpire must assess
Under MCC Law 23, leg-bye treatment depends on an attempt to play the ball with the bat or an attempt to avoid being hit. If neither attempt is established, leg-bye runs are not awarded under that law. Any separately specified penalty remains a different matter.
The contact point and the striker's action answer different questions. A photograph showing a ball beside a pad leaves the preceding movement unresolved.
Three hypothetical readings of the same contact
Hypothetical A—attempt to play: The striker brings the bat toward the delivery, misses, and the ball then hits the body. If the umpire is satisfied that this was an attempt to play with the bat, the leg-bye condition is met, subject to the rest of the match circumstances.
Hypothetical B—attempt to avoid: The striker makes a clear movement to avoid being hit, but the ball still contacts the body. If the umpire is satisfied that the movement was an attempt to avoid the ball, that also meets the stated condition.
Hypothetical C—neither: The striker makes no attempt to play and no attempt to avoid the ball. Body contact occurs, but the leg-bye condition is not met. That does not automatically create a different scoring category.
Why a match decision cannot be inferred from one image
When a clip omits the striker’s preceding movement, keep that evidence gap explicit instead of choosing a category from the contact point alone. Competition playing conditions may modify how the Laws are applied, so this explanation describes the stated MCC condition rather than deciding an actual match or calculating a score.