I’ve watched my fair share of one-day, 50-over matches and they’re relatively easy to understand.
But test matches are a whole different matter. I’m currently trying to follow India v Australia test down under but it’s making absolutely no sense to me.
So could someone explain, in layman’s, how test matches work?
Cheers.
Apologies for the missing the in the second paragraph. :smack:
Simple answer: Side A bats, scores as many runs as possible until 10 batsmen are out (leaves one “not out” batsman with no-one to accompany him; there must always be two batsmen in at a time). This is termed “all out” even though there is one batsman who is not out.
Side B does the same.
Side A does the same again.
Side B does the same, with the following possible results:
More complex still: A side is not obliged to carry on batting until it is “all out”. If you like your side’s score and want to get on with bowling the other side out to win the game, you can “declare”. Even though you have not-out batsmen, their right to their innings is forfeited. You need not, and do not, declare in the fourth innings (Side B’s second innings in the “simple answer”) as the game ends at once if you reach the winning target.
A “Test Match”, despite the name, is a full international; also in Rugby.
Any more questions?
In preview I see that Malacandra has given the basics, but I’ll add this anyhow:
There are two key differences between limited-overs matches and other matches (such as Test matches):
[ul][li]As the name implies, the duration of the batting innings in a limited overs match is limited to a fixed number of overs. There is no limit to the length of any innings of a Test match, beyond the fact that the whole match is limited to five days’ play. A batting innings only has to end when ten batsmen are out.[/li]
[li]Instead of each team batting once, in a Test match each team can bat twice building an aggregate total of runs.[/ul][/li]So in order to win the match, one team has to bowl the other out twice and exceed the other’s total of runs scored.
In the current match, however, India have declared both their innings*, i.e. they have volunteered to stop batting before all their wickets have fallen because they believe they have scored enough runs to gain a big advantage and want to start taking Australian wickets. They have set Australia a target of 443 to win and for India to win they must bowl the Aussies out before the end of play tomorrow and before they reach that target.
FWIW, no side has scored more than 276 in the fourth innings to win a Test in Sydney, so the Aussies are unlikely to win. Also, the first Australian innings lasted 117.5 overs, while there are only 90 overs left to be bowled on the last day, so the Indians may have left themselves a little short of time to complete the win. Timing the declaration of an innings is an art in itself, and the most likely result of this match is now a draw.
*That’s pretty unusual, by the way. Most matches don’t need any innings to be declared.
What’s an “over” ?
An over is a sequence of six balls bowled by the same player.
Don’t they also have 8 ball overs in Australian cricket ?
There haven’t been 8-ball overs for a long time as far as I know.
green bladder and other interested parties can follow the last day of the Aussie-India test live at cricinfo from this link .
An interesting page detailing the history of the number of balls per over by country - from 4 to 5 to 6 to 8 and back to 6 in some cases!! Everyone settled on 6 in 1979/80 it seems.
You live and learn…
Grim
Here is a slightly tongue in cheek explanation of the rules of cricket:
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he is out. When they are all out, the side that’s been out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
“When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out, he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who are all out all the time, and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.”
V
Another way of explaining things:
A test match lasts for five days.
In that five days, each team bats for two innings.
To win:
A) You must have scored more runs than your opponent AND
B) The opponent must have finished both of their innings
An innings can be finished in two ways:
WHY would you declare an innings?
To give yourself more time to get the other team out.
In the current match:
India bats first, scores 705 in two and a bit days. They decide that
this is enough, so they declare.
Australia bats, and is all out for four hundred and something
India bats again, scores another two hunred, and declares again.
This gives Australia one day to make 440 and win, or for India to get 10 wickets and win.
Thanks for the replies. Just one more question: This is currently the fourth test match between India and Australia, so usually how many matches are there in a series?
this is the final test.
but the entire series was 8 games, 4 played in india, 4 in australia, India won the series in India so if the aussie series ends ina draw the indians will retain the something-border trophy.
Aussie Aussie Aussie
oi oi oi
incedently i have never seen australia play worse in the field, dropped balls are not a usual site as thy have been the best team in the world for the past 8 years.
THe problem is we are missing our key bowlers, Mcgrath and Warne.
Zaphod
also there is an option if there is a chance of a result, the indians can opt to bowl and extra 15 overs.
but the weather here is looking abit dodgy and we may get rain today.
The “something” is actually Gavaskar.After Sunil Gavaskar of India.Of course Border refers to Allan Border.
At the time of writing this the Aussies need 200 odd runs from 19 overs,the match seems to be heading for a draw.
This Indian site is generally faster than the cricinfo sites for live scores.
Both of Zaphod7’s posts are wrong. This Test is the last of this 4 Test series which has nothing to do withthe series played in India.
There is no option to extend play although the option exists to end early if both captains feel like it (no reult possible).
I don’t think a draw is certain yet. Steve Waugh won’t let Australia settle for a draw with 6 wickets in hand. They’ll lose or they’ll get the runs.
Perhaps Zaphod was thinking of the provision that 20 overs must be bowled in the last hour of play on the final day.
Actually for some reason that rule wasn’t in use either this time (I have no idea why not). Australia received 94 overs 4 for yesterday and 90 for today like any other day. Zaphod7 may have been confused by the rule that play could not extend beyond 7PM whether there were overs to go or not. Again I have no idea why they introduced this rule.
Yes, it seems as if it’s now 15 overs in the last hour. Though the Laws at lords.org still say 20.
For many years, the standard length of Test series in England was five matches and that’s still common here. But recently the organisers have varied the format to fit two shorter series in a single summer, and to create “triangular tournaments” in which three teams play sequences of one day matches against each other. In 1980 there were only six touring teams, whereas now there are nine, so having shorter series allows more teams to play each other without excessive time gaps.
Current Test series include:
Australia v India – four Tests, as you’ve noted, plus a one day series involving Zimbabwe
South Africa v West Indies – four Tests and five one-dayers
New Zealand v Pakistan – two Tests and five one-dayers
Australia v Zimbabwe – two Tests
South Africa played five Tests in England in 2003, Zimbabwe played two, and there was a one day tournament between the three countries.