Test Match Cricket: All You Need To Know

 

Test matches are the longest format of the game. Test match format may perhaps be the format that has remained relatively pure in the evolution of cricket over the decades, with lesser tweaks and rule changes implemented as compared to other formats. 

It is therefore, more often than not, a purist's favorite.

How Long Is A Test Match?

Test matches are usually played over a maximum of five consecutive days. However, four-day tests are also a thing, the last (at the time of this writing) being played on boxing day of 2017 between South Africa and Zimbabwe. 

 

Fun fact, the South Africa-Zimbabwe four-day test was also a pink ball, day/night match, making it the first ever four-day pink ball test match.  

 

During cricket's early years, back in the 19th and early 20th century, the duration of a test match was not really standardized and so the format ranged from three-day matches to six-day matches. 

On occasion there were also some timeless matches, gladiator-esque, where teams would play for however long it took until there was a winner.

 

Over the recent decades, five-day test matches have become the standard as they strike the balance between game time, scheduling, and above all, the TEST element of the game to test a player's skill, patience, mentality, and endurance.

How Many Overs per Day?

Weather permitting, each day in a test match should have 90 overs bowled. Meaning if a match is to last the entire five days, under ideal conditions, then 450 overs should have been bowled.

 

Each day is split into three two-hour sessions. Each session is expected to have 30 overs. 

Also, the total number of overs do not necessarily have to be split evenly between the two teams. 

The goal is to bat for as long as possible and then dismiss your opponent as quickly as possible. 

 

The number of overs bowled per day can be negatively affected by bad weather i.e rain delays or poor lighting.

Match Format

Test matches are composed of four innings, each team batting and bowling twice.

The question of who bats or bowls first is decided by coin toss. Depending on the condition of the pitch, the winner of the toss will decide to either bat or bowl first.

The team batting first (Team A) will post a total for the team batting second (Team B) to chase. Team B will either gain a lead (advantage) on the score or fall short, giving Team A the advantage.

In the third innings, Team A will bat again to either build on the advantage or will start at a deficit and hopefully bat past the deficit and post another target for Team B.

 

Finally, in the fourth innings, Team B will chase the final target posted by Team A. 

If they chase it down successfully, Team B wins by the number of wickets they have in hand. If they fall short of the score, they lose by the number of runs they are short by.

 

Follow-on and Declaration

A follow-on option is the choice to send the team batting second back in to bat immediately after their first innings.

Follow-ons can only be implemented by a team batting first, on condition that the first innings score of the team batting second is still at least 200 runs short of the initial lead set by the team batting first.

 

A declaration (as shown in the above example) is a captain's decision to end his team's batting innings despite having some wickets in hand. 

 

This is usually the case when the batting captain feels that his team has put up enough runs on the board to win the match.

 

FYI: Innings victory Is when a team wins a test match having only batted once (instead of twice). 

Example, when the sum of Team B's scores in their 1st innings and their follow-on 2nd innings fail to equal Team A's first innings score.

Draw/ No result

A test match is declared a draw if after five days there's still no winner.

 

Factors that usually cause draws in test matches:

• Type of wicket - Batting-friendly wickets will make it hard to dismiss an entire team twice.
• Bad weather - can significantly decrease the number of overs bowled per day throughout the five days of a match. This leaves less time for the bowlers to dismiss an entire team twice.
  

Other Information...

Kit colour - Both teams wear all-white kits.

Ball used - Red ball in day matches. Pink ball in day/night test matches. 

Number of balls used - A bowling team has the option to take a new ball after every 80 overs.

Number of overs per bowler - Unlimited. Unlike in limited-overs matches, in test match cricket a bowler is not limited to a specific number of overs.

 

Is test match your favourite format? Comment below.