Cricket

The distinction is the number of overs each side faces. An over is a set of six deliveries bowled from one end, after which a different bowler bowls from the other end.

• Test cricket. Played over up to five days, with two innings per side and no over limit. Because time is part of the contest, a Test can end in a draw — a genuine result, not a tie. Test matches between national teams are the format used for the World Test Championship.
• One-day cricket. Each side bats for a fixed maximum of overs, conventionally 50. A result is normally reached because the overs force the pace.
• Twenty20. Twenty overs per side, designed to complete in a few hours. The shortest international format and the basis of the franchise leagues.

Only the first format is drawn. In the other two, a match level on runs is a tie, and a tie in a knockout is usually resolved by a Super Over — a further over per side.

Innings, wickets and the target

An innings ends when ten of the batting side's eleven players are out, when the allotted overs are bowled, or when the batting captain declares the innings closed. The side batting second is chasing a target: one run more than the first side scored. If it reaches the target, it wins by wickets remaining; if it is dismissed short, the first side wins by runs. That is why results are expressed as "by four wickets" or "by 22 runs".

Rain and interruption

Cricket is played outdoors over long periods, so weather rules exist. In limited-overs cricket, a rain interruption may reduce the number of overs, and a mathematical method recalculates the target to reflect the overs each side actually had available. The method in current use is Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. In Test cricket, lost time is simply lost, which is the main reason draws remain common.

How competitions are organised

Cricket does not organise itself into a single league season the way most team sports do. Three structures run in parallel.

• Bilateral series. Two national teams play a scheduled series of Tests, one-day matches, Twenty20 matches, or a mix. A series is won by the side that wins more matches, and drawn if neither does. Most international cricket takes place this way.
• ICC global tournaments. The international governing body runs world championships in each format, plus a World Test Championship decided over a multi-year cycle that culminates in a final. Qualification and format are set by the ICC and have been revised repeatedly.
• Domestic and franchise competitions. National first-class competitions underpin the Test game, while franchise-based Twenty20 leagues operate as commercial entities with their own auction or draft systems and their own signing windows.

Where the format is changing

The ICC has been revising how its flagship one-day tournament is structured, and the changes affect how many teams qualify and how the group stage is arranged. This is exactly the kind of figure that goes stale if stated without a date, so here is the position as checked.

Because the format is being revised, treat any older description of the tournament as historical. Confirm the current structure with the ICC before relying on it.

Key terms