Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 August 28

= August 28 =

Test cricket: number of overs on final day
The above question made me think of another Ashes-related question. In the second Test, as our article states, England's final-day declaration left Australia a target of 267 runs to win off a scheduled 50 overs, which they did not reach, resulting in a draw. How was that figure of 50 overs calculated? The relevant rules are at Playing time (cricket), but that doesn't help me to understand how the figure of 50 overs was calculated in this particular case. Many thanks, --Viennese Waltz 12:42, 28 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I haven't worked it out, but the article you cited notes "there is a requirement that a minimum of 90 six-ball overs are bowled" in a day, and the "50 overs" thing you note was after the completion of the morning session. Perhaps 40 overs had been bowled in the morning session and thus there were a 50 left to reach the 90 overs limit? -- Jayron 32 12:48, 28 August 2019 (UTC)
 * That seems possible. Confusingly, this match report says that Australia only had to bat out 48 overs, not 50. --Viennese Waltz 12:56, 28 August 2019 (UTC)
 * The number of overs to be bowled can be reduced if there are events that delay play during the day. These might be weather related, or all sorts of other things, such as a player getting injured and lying on the pitch for five minutes. That might remove one over from the target. I think that even the number of dismissals can effect it, since it takes time for the new batsman to come in. HiLo48 (talk) 00:04, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

In addition to the above, they also deduct a couple of overs for the change of innings. Finally, within limits, the captains can agree a draw early, if they both agree there's no chance of "a result". --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 08:36, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks all, so it looks like Jayron's hypothesis might be correct – that there were 40 overs bowled in the morning, leaving 50 to be bowled in the afternoon, from which two were deducted because of the change of innings to leave 48 for Australia to survive to secure a draw. But I'd still like to see a reference confirming that there were indeed 40 overs bowled on that particular morning (the last day of the 2nd Test). --Viennese Waltz 09:16, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
 * No, there weren't 40 overs. Here's the reference: . At the end of day 4, England had batted 32.2 overs. By lunch on day 5, they'd batted 54.0, which is a further 17.4, not 40 (in cricket you count from 0.1 to 0.5 and then go to 1.0, to decimalise 6 ball overs). But it rained, preventing play. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 14:08, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that's helpful (except for the bit about 0.1 to 0.5, which I already knew). But I'm still no nearer an answer to my original question, which was how many overs Australia had to survive in order to draw, and why that number. --Viennese Waltz 14:14, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Play normally goes from 11am to (worst case) 7.30pm. During that time, nominally 90 overs are supposed to be bowled. If rain, bad light, changes of innings etc take place, the number of overs able to be bowled becomes naturally reduced because the 7.30pm cut-off time ends the game. Australia needed to bat out the whole day to survive, not a specific number of overs. But as Dweller says, the captains can agree to an earlier end should no end be in sight come 6.30pm etc. The Rambling Man (Staying alive since 2005!) 14:17, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
 * And just to confuse you further, if a fielding captain is keen and has the right kind of bowlers, they can bowl more than the allocated number of overs in the time permitted. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 17:39, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

The fourth Test match starts on Wednesday at 11.00 UK time. Anyone with a beginner's interest in cricket who might like to try following it, I'd suggest the Guardian's "OBO" (over by over) coverage. It's a lot of fun and they do tend to explain things well. Ignore the in-jokes (until you get them, anyway). It'll appear shortly before 11 - you can get a flavour of it from one of the previous matches in the archive at --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 22:20, 3 September 2019 (UTC)