Match Regulations

Powerplay 1 covers the opening ten overs of a fifty-over innings.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

Only two fielders may be outside the thirty-yard circle in the first ten overs.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

From over 11 to over 40 up to four fielders may be outside the circle.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

In the final phase up to five fielders may be outside the circle, the most of any phase.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

Three fielders out in the first powerplay breaks the two-fielder limit, so the delivery is a no-ball.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · applied

Two arcs thirty yards from each middle stump, joined by straight lines, form the fielding circle.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

When an innings is shortened in advance, the phase boundaries are scaled to the reduced number of overs.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · applied

The Law's two-behind-square leg-side limit applies throughout, on top of the powerplay circle rules.

Source: MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 code (3rd edition 2022), Law 28 · recall

One new ball is taken from each end, and each is used for twenty-five overs of the innings.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

Fewer boundary riders early and late forces gaps and rewards aggressive batting.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI) · recall

A T20I powerplay is the opening six overs of the twenty.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · recall

Just two fielders may be outside the thirty-yard circle in the T20 powerplay, matching the ODI figure.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · recall

After over six, up to five fielders may be outside the circle.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · recall

A third fielder outside the circle during the T20 powerplay is one too many, so it is a no-ball.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · applied

With five allowed outside, the four remaining fielders have to be inside the circle.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · recall

The leg-side limit of two behind square is a Law and holds for every delivery of the match.

Source: MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 code (3rd edition 2022), Law 28 · recall

A rain-reduced T20 has its powerplay scaled down from the playing-conditions table, keeping the same rough proportion.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · applied

The five-outside limit holds for every over after the powerplay, so a ring of nine on the rope is illegal.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · applied

Five outside is the most allowed, not a number that must be used; a captain may keep more fielders in.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · applied

A bowler is capped at four of the twenty overs; once they are gone the umpire will not let him bowl a fifth.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I) · applied

The free hit now follows every kind of no-ball, where once it was only for a foot fault.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DRS-era no-ball rules) · recall

Only the dismissals available off a no-ball apply on a free hit: run out, obstruction, and hit the ball twice.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · recall

He cannot be bowled off a free hit; the ball stays live, so runs, including byes off the stumps, can be taken.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · applied

Run out is one of the dismissals a free hit does not protect against, so a batter short of his ground is out.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · applied

The field is frozen for the free hit; the main exception is that a new batter is on strike after a completed run.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · recall

A no-ball or a wide on the free-hit ball means the free hit carries over to the following delivery.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · applied

After the no-ball signal the umpire circles a raised arm to show that a free hit is coming.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · recall

The ball is live on a free hit, so byes and leg-byes are run and scored in the normal way.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · applied

A near-risk-free delivery on top of the extra run makes bowling a no-ball much more expensive, and deters it.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · recall

The field may not be altered for a free hit unless the striker has changed ends, so an unauthorised move is undone.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit) · applied

An on-ground clock counts down sixty seconds from the end of one over to the first ball of the next.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock) · recall

The first two breaches in an innings bring warnings; every breach after that costs five penalty runs.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock) · recall

The third umpire operates the countdown clock that is shown on the ground.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock) · recall

After a trial from late 2023 it was made mandatory in all men's ODIs and T20Is from 1 June 2024.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Once the two warnings are gone, each further slow over costs the fielding side five runs.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock) · applied

If the side is not on schedule by a set point, one more fielder must come inside the circle for the rest of the innings.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (over rates) · recall

WTC places are set by a percentage of points available, and teams have points docked for bowling their overs too slowly.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (World Test Championship) · recall

Slow field-setting is exactly the delay the clock is meant to catch; the countdown does not pause for it.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock) · applied

Genuine stoppages such as a wicket, an injury, DRS or drinks stop the clock; ordinary dawdling does not.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock) · recall

Trials showed roughly twenty minutes an ODI were being lost between overs, and the clock was meant to claw that back.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Lunch is usually forty minutes and tea twenty, though the playing conditions can adjust them.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals) · recall

One brief drinks break is scheduled per session, with extras only by agreement in extreme heat.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals) · recall

An interval is taken at the fall of the last wicket, or a declaration, if that comes within a short window of the scheduled time.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals) · applied

The umpires may extend the day by up to half an hour where they judge it could bring a result.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play) · recall

At least fifteen overs must be bowled in the last hour, with time added if the over rate is slow.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play) · recall

Lost overs are recovered by starting earlier or finishing later on the following days, up to the daily limits.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play) · applied

The innings break in an ODI is typically thirty to forty-five minutes, and shorter in a T20.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals) · recall

A brief stoppage that does not eat into scheduled time costs nothing; overs are lost only when time genuinely runs out.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play) · applied

The umpires may rearrange the intervals, for example taking tea during a stoppage, to make the best use of the time.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals) · recall

Overs short of the ninety are made up on later days, and a persistent slow rate brings match-referee sanctions on the captain.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (over rates) · applied

DLS produces a revised target, or a par score, when overs are lost to rain in a one-day match.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · recall

The method treats an innings as the overs still to be bowled and the wickets still standing.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · recall

At any interruption DLS gives a par score, and the side is ahead or behind by how its total compares.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · recall

Finishing above the DLS par score means the chasing side has won the rain-shortened match.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · applied

At least twenty overs a side must be possible in an ODI (five in a T20) for a DLS result to count.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · recall

A T20 needs at least five overs a side; below that the match is a no-result.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · recall

A concussion replacement is a full like-for-like replacement who takes over the injured player's role entirely.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (concussion replacements) · recall

The match referee approves the replacement and normally expects a like-for-like player.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (concussion replacements) · recall

The replacement should match the injured player's role, so a clear upgrade may be blocked or restricted.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (concussion replacements) · applied

Without the minimum twenty overs for the chasing side there can be no DLS result, so the game is a no-result.

Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS) · applied