Cricket: Game Formats

 

Cricket is one of the few sports that embodies more than one official format of the game. 

The formats differ in length of match, officiating rules, type of ball used, number of balls used per match and kits used.

What are the different game formats in cricket?

While there are as many as six, if not more, game formats in cricket, only three formats of the game are organized by the governing body (ICC) as globally-contested national team tournaments. 

 

Domestic leagues are not governed by the ICC and therefore tend to explore more 'unorthodox' and experimental formats of the game. 

Examples are The Hundred (in England and Wales) and T10 leagues across many countries.

 

Six of the common formats in cricket are as follows:

1. Test matches
2. First class/ Four-day test matches
3. One day international (ODI)
4. T20I/ T20
5. T10
6. The Hundred 
   

Of the listed six, ICC is responsible for staging the first four formats. 

T10 leagues and The Hundred are recently introduced formats that are still finding their feet at domestic level. 

 

However, with enough support and fan excitement, they can soon find themselves being ICC world cup formats. Most likely not in the near future, unfortunately (or fortunately, for the cricket purists).

The four 'ICC-recognized' formats are generally split into two categories: Red ball/ Pink ball cricket and White ball cricket.

Red Ball Cricket

As the name pre-empts, these formats are played using a red cricket ball. 

Red ball formats are the longer formats of cricket. These are either five-day matches or four-day matches.

 

First class matches are four-day domestic league matches whilst test matches are generally five-day international matches. 

However, it is important to note that four-day test matches are also a recognized format, although not as popular as the five-dayer.

 

Apart from ball colour, the easiest way to identify whether a game is being played in it's longest format is to look at the kits donned by the players.

In long formats both teams wear white while in shorter formats the teams wear colourful kits.

Pink Ball Cricket

Test matches were at one time exclusively played during the day because the dull colour of a worn out red ball posed ball visibility challenges under night lights... Then in came the pink ball.

 

The pink ball was introduced as a direct substitute of the red ball to make the playing hours of test cricket a bit more versatile. 

As a result, day/night test matches became a reality and added another dimension to test match cricket.

White Ball Cricket

White ball cricket matches are the shorter formats of cricket, all played within the day.

And you guessed it... they all use a white cricket ball.

The most common white ball formats are ODI matches and T20 matches. The difference being, ODI matches are played 50 Overs apiece while T20 matches are played 20 Overs apiece.

In ODI matches two balls are used, one from each bowling end, whilst one ball is used in T20 matches.

 

T10 matches are played 10 overs apiece while The Hundred is a 100-ball format.

 

In conclusion...

 

It would be a fair verdict to say there are two branches of cricket, the short format (white ball) and the long format (red ball).

 

Each format can then be further broken down into smaller sub-formats. 

This way, it will be easier to classify newer sub-formats that will inevitably pop up as the game continuously evolves.

What is your favourite cricket format? Comment below.