In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket (LBW) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a complex series of circumstances (law 36 of the Laws of Cricket) that primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body (usually the leg) when it would otherwise have continued to hit the wicket.
The LBW rule is designed to prevent a batsman simply using his body to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket (and so avoid being bowled out) rather than using his bat to do so.
Despite the word leg in leg before wicket, the rule applies if the ball hits the batsman on any part of his body, except for the glove of a hand in contact with the bat (which is considered part of the bat).
