by John Welford

Created on: July 08, 2009   Last Updated: March 13, 2010

There are two basic ways in which cricket can be played, namely as an "open" match or in a limited-over format.

In an open match, one side will bat until all its wickets are lost, or the innings is declared, and the other side will then try to better the first side's total. The match can be either one innings per side, which is usual in school, village, and similar amateur cricket, or two innings as in the professional game.

In limited-overs one-day games, which are invariably played as single-innings matches, both sides play the number of overs stipulated by the competition in question, and the winning side will be the one that has the higher score after the overs of both sides have been completed, however many wickets have been lost. Of course, if a side loses all their wickets they cannot play their full complement of overs. Various rules have been introduced to regulate the limited-overs game, such as limits on the number of overs that can be bowled by any one bowler, rules concerning fielding positions, etc.

At the heart of the professional English game is county cricket, which for many years was played over three days. The term "first class cricket" is used to describe matches played between the top 18 county sides, the number having increased over the years with Durham being the last addition, in 1991. Most other English counties have sides that play as "minor counties".

Three-day first-class matches have now expanded to four days, because too many matches were ending as draws due to lack of time. Unless the weather intervenes, it is usually possible to get a result within four days. International matches (known as Test matches) are played over five days, because it is expected that the world's best players are likely to play longer innings, especially as the pitches used for these matches tend to favour the batsmen.

In a two-inningsmatch, the team batting first has the option of enforcing a "follow on". Should their innings exceed that of their opponents by more than a given number (150 runs in a three or four-day match, 200 runs in a five-day match), they may ask the other team to play their second innings immediately after the first. Suppose, in a Test match, Team A scores 600 runs and Team B only scores 300. Team A can then ask Team B to bat again, and if they only score 200 in their second innings, Team A will have won the match "by an innings and 100 runs", because their one innings will have bettered the combined innings of Team B. Should

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