Coaches go red in the face when their bowlers send down no balls.
There is a worse cricketing crime, however, taking wickets with no balls.
Australia did it again on Thursday in the fourth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.
If you looked closely, you might have spotted their coach John Buchanan gradually turning the colour of boiled lobster as his attack gave away 22 no balls during England's first-day total of 229 for four.
He probably began climbing walls when one of them, from Brett Lee, smashed into Marcus Trescothick's stumps via an inside edge.
It did not cost Australia too many runs. Trescothick was on 55 at the time and added only 10 more but it was the principle that mattered.
Quizzed over his side's error-strewn Ashes displays earlier in the series, Buchanan talked of a new, "zero tolerance" approach. It did not seem to work at Trent Bridge.
WORLD CHAMPIONS
The world champions, who set a new benchmark for fielding only a few years ago, also dropped two catches on Thursday. In the third Test at Old Trafford, they put down five in one innings.
Those no-ball 'wickets', though, hurt most.
On the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston, Trescothick edged Michael Kasprowicz to gully, Matthew Hayden took the catch and a no ball was called.
Trescothick had been on 32 and went on to make 90. England won the game by two runs to level the series.
At Old Trafford, Michael Vaughan edged Glenn McGrath having made 41. He was dropped.
Next delivery, the England captain was bowled and again "no ball!" was called. He went on to make 166.
By Thursday's news conference Buchanan's face had returned to its normal hue.
"There is no explanation [for those 22 no balls]," he said, managing a smile.
"We set ourselves the target of not bowling any and we have obviously just missed that.
"It gives us some room for improvement, which is a nice place to be."
Buchanan said he had left the bowlers to work out their own run-ups but added: "That hasn't quite worked so we need to take a little bit of a more direct approach. It's a case of talking to the bowlers and saying it can't go on.
"It's a headache for all of us."
