Over (cricket)
Encyclopedia
In the sport of cricket
, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate.
An over must consist of six legal deliveries. Wides and no balls
do not count toward the six-ball tally. The captain of the fielding team decides which bowler will bowl any given over (subject to the restriction that no bowler may bowl two overs in succession).
At the completion of each over, the direction of bowling reverses, so that the new bowler will approach the batsman from the opposite end of the pitch
. Generally, the captain will appoint two bowlers to alternate overs from opposite ends of the pitch until one tires or becomes ineffective, at which point the captain will replace that bowler with another. The period of time during which a bowler is part of such a pair is known as a spell.
In limited over cricket matches, such as one-day cricket
and twenty20
, bowlers are restricted to the total number of overs they may bowl in a match. The general rule is that no bowler can bowl more than 20% of the allotted overs per innings. Thus, in a 50 overs match, each bowler can bowl up to a maximum of 10 overs. Similarly, in a twenty20
match, one bowler can bowl a maximum of 4 overs, and the length of the game is determined by the total number of overs bowled (usually 40 or 50 per innings
and just 20 overs per innings
in Twenty20
). In Test
and county cricket
, teams are usually required to bowl a minimum number of overs per day to prevent spoiling of the game by a slow over rate. Captains and teams are regularly punished for going at a slower rate than the required rate. The punishment often comes in cutting the match fees or banning from games.
A maiden over is one in which no runs are scored. Leg byes and byes scored in over are not counted for maiden over.
A wicket maiden is one in which no runs are scored and one wicket is taken. Double and even triple wicket maidens can also be scored, albeit seldom in occurrence.
, or a ball that is intended to induce a mistake from a batsman who is still in aggressive run-scoring mode, which will result in him being caught out. The latter type of delivery is known as a sucker ball.
Cricket authorities also impose penalties on captains if their players bowl their overs at a very slow rate, such as fines, loss of competition points, and match bans. As a result, if a team is proceeding slowly, some captains will choose to use slow/spin bowlers. Such bowlers have a shorter run up so they complete their overs more quickly. Often this means choosing an inferior strategy by employing a less skillful bowler to avoid penalties that are perceived to be greater, such as being banned or losing points.
If one batsman is right-handed and the other left-handed, they may try to score odd numbers of runs to disrupt the bowling pattern and tire the fielders by making them reposition themselves frequently.
in that country.
Balls per over
In England
In Australia
In South Africa
In New Zealand
In Pakistan
In India
, West Indies, Sri Lanka
, Zimbabwe
, Bangladesh
and the United Arab Emirates
(venue, not host) all Test matches have been played with 6 ball overs.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate.
An over must consist of six legal deliveries. Wides and no balls
No ball
In the sport of cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled...
do not count toward the six-ball tally. The captain of the fielding team decides which bowler will bowl any given over (subject to the restriction that no bowler may bowl two overs in succession).
At the completion of each over, the direction of bowling reverses, so that the new bowler will approach the batsman from the opposite end of the pitch
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...
. Generally, the captain will appoint two bowlers to alternate overs from opposite ends of the pitch until one tires or becomes ineffective, at which point the captain will replace that bowler with another. The period of time during which a bowler is part of such a pair is known as a spell.
In limited over cricket matches, such as one-day cricket
One-day cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket and in a slightly different context as List A cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas Test and first-class matches can take up to five days to complete...
and twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
, bowlers are restricted to the total number of overs they may bowl in a match. The general rule is that no bowler can bowl more than 20% of the allotted overs per innings. Thus, in a 50 overs match, each bowler can bowl up to a maximum of 10 overs. Similarly, in a twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
match, one bowler can bowl a maximum of 4 overs, and the length of the game is determined by the total number of overs bowled (usually 40 or 50 per innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
and just 20 overs per innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
in Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
). In Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
, teams are usually required to bowl a minimum number of overs per day to prevent spoiling of the game by a slow over rate. Captains and teams are regularly punished for going at a slower rate than the required rate. The punishment often comes in cutting the match fees or banning from games.
A maiden over is one in which no runs are scored. Leg byes and byes scored in over are not counted for maiden over.
A wicket maiden is one in which no runs are scored and one wicket is taken. Double and even triple wicket maidens can also be scored, albeit seldom in occurrence.
Tactical considerations in bowling overs
The over is a fundamental consideration in the tactical planning of the fielding side. Since a single bowler has only six legal balls to bowl before he must hand the ball to another bowler, he typically plans to use those six balls to set up a pattern of play designed to get a batsman out. For example, he may bowl the first few balls with the same line, length, or spin. He intends to tempt the batsman into scoring runs by providing balls that are relatively easy to hit. If the batsman takes the bait, the bowler can then follow up with a variation designed to hit the wicketWicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
, or a ball that is intended to induce a mistake from a batsman who is still in aggressive run-scoring mode, which will result in him being caught out. The latter type of delivery is known as a sucker ball.
Cricket authorities also impose penalties on captains if their players bowl their overs at a very slow rate, such as fines, loss of competition points, and match bans. As a result, if a team is proceeding slowly, some captains will choose to use slow/spin bowlers. Such bowlers have a shorter run up so they complete their overs more quickly. Often this means choosing an inferior strategy by employing a less skillful bowler to avoid penalties that are perceived to be greater, such as being banned or losing points.
Tactical considerations in batting
If the two batsmen are not similar, tactical considerations may affect their play. If one batsman is stronger than the other, they may attempt to engineer their scoring so that the stronger batsman faces the bowling more often. This may take the form of the stronger batsman trying to score an even number of runs on early balls in the over and an odd number on the last ball; the weaker batsman will attempt the reverse, and the bowler will try to disrupt this pattern.If one batsman is right-handed and the other left-handed, they may try to score odd numbers of runs to disrupt the bowling pattern and tire the fielders by making them reposition themselves frequently.
Historical number of balls per over in Test cricket
Modern day Test cricket (since 1979/80) has been played all over the world with six balls per over. However, Test cricket started with 4 balls per over and has had varying number of balls per over around the world up to 1979/80, generally the same as the number of balls per over in force in other first-class cricketFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
in that country.
Balls per over
In England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- 1880 to 1888: 4
- 1889 to 1899: 5
- 1900 to 1938: 6
- 1939 to 1945: 8 (though not in the "Victory" Tests)
- 1946 to date: 6
In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- 1876/77 to 1887/88: 4
- 1891/92 to 1920/21: 6
- 1924/25: 8
- 1928/29 to 1932/33: 6
- 1936/37 to 1978/79: 8
- 1979/80 to date: 6
In South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
- 1888/89: 4
- 1891/92 to 1898/99: 5
- 1902/03 to 1935/36: 6
- 1938/39 to 1957/58: 8
- 1961/62 to date: 6
In New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
- 1929/30 to 1967/68: 6
- 1968/69 to 1978/79: 8
- 1979/80 to date: 6
In Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
- 1954/55 to 1972/73: 6
- 1974/75 to 1977/78: 8
- 1978/79 to date: 6
In India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, West Indies, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
(venue, not host) all Test matches have been played with 6 ball overs.