by Chris Pearce

Created on: July 14, 2009   Last Updated: September 04, 2010

In broad terms, the two main types of cricket matches are those where each team has two innings and are played over several days, and limited overs matches where each team bats once and the game is usually confined to one day. Both games have 11 players on each team. Other types of cricket include indoor cricket, backyard cricket, French cricket, beach cricket, and Kwik cricket.

Matches over several days

Most matches that are played over several days are first class matches between counties, states, or other regions within a country, and Test matches between nations. Each team has two innings, or bats twice. Test matches last up to five days, unless a result is reached before this time because one of the teams has been bowled out twice and the other team has a greater number of runs when the scores of the two innings are added together.

Matches are usually played on five consecutive days. Until around 1980, teams would play for three days, followed by a rest day, and then two more days of cricket. There have been instances of timeless tests lasting up to nine days but this format proved unsuccessful as batsmen became too defensive, instead of scoring runs and trying to force a result.

Play lasts for six hours a day. The game usually starts around 11am, although it can be earlier in some countries. Early starts in England are not practical because of dew. The day's play is divided into three sessions: morning, afternoon, and evening, each of two hours. The morning session goes from 11am until 1 pm when players adjourn for lunch for 40 minutes.

After a further two hours of play, a 20 minute "tea break" is taken, where players traditionally drank tea. A final session lasts from 4pm to 6pm. This session can be extended if time has been lost to rain. A drinks break is taken in the middle of each session for several minutes, and there is a 10 minute break between innings. If a result is not reached in five days, the match is drawn, even if one team has clearly outperformed the other.

Five day test matches are played between England and its various former colonies which are now countries. These include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh. Zimbabwe hasn't played test match cricket since 2006 for political reasons. The first Test match was between England and Australia in 1877, long before these games were actually called Test matches. The games are usually played in a series of 3-5 matches between

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