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

Since July 2025 the ICC's ODI conditions use the two new balls, one from each end, only until the end of the 34th over; the fielding side then picks one of them for overs 35 to 50.

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 Men's ODI and T20I Playing Conditions, Law 21 (No ball), free hit · 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

A Super Over is a single over for each side.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Many limited-overs internationals and leagues settle a tie with a Super Over.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Each side names its batters and its bowler before the Super Over begins.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Tests have their own results, including the draw and the tie, so no tie-breaker is needed.

Source: General playing principle · applied

With three batters named, the second wicket ends the side's Super Over.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

The Super Over is a playing-condition tie-breaker used widely in limited-overs cricket.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Three batters allow for two wickets, after which the Super Over ends.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Since 2019, a tied Super Over is followed by further Super Overs until there is a winner.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

The side that batted second in the match bats first in the Super Over.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

Side B must pass Side A's 12, so it needs 13.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

An unfit rating brings three demerit points; an unsatisfactory one brings one.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · recall

Unsatisfactory is the milder of the two poor ratings.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · recall

Both pitch and outfield are rated after an international.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · recall

Variable, dangerous bounce is the clearest sign of a poor surface; normal wear and help for bowlers is not.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · applied

Ratings push venues to produce pitches that give bat and ball a fair contest.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · applied

Demerit points count over a rolling five-year period.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · recall

The ICC process covers international cricket.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · recall

The five ratings run from very good down to unfit.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · applied

The match referee rates the surfaces, and the ICC confirms any poor rating before points are given.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · applied

Four points plus three for an unfit pitch makes seven; six points means a 12-month suspension from hosting.

Source: ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process · applied

Men's international boundaries must be at least 65 yards.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Boundaries may be no longer than 90 yards.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · recall

Pitches sit side by side on the square, so a match pitch away from the middle leaves one side short.

Source: General playing principle · applied

A short boundary turns mis-hits and big swings into sixes more often.

Source: General playing principle · applied

A gap between rope and fence protects fielders and makes room for advertising boards and equipment.

Source: General playing principle · applied

International playing conditions set the limits, and the ground must meet them.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

On a big field, batters run more twos and threes and clear the rope less often.

Source: General playing principle · applied

Thirty yards, sixty-five yards and ninety yards.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

Boundary distances are measured from the centre of the pitch to be used.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

At 62 metres the leg-side square boundary is the shortest of the three.

Source: General playing principle · applied

A spare day lets a knockout match be finished if weather stops it.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · recall

A washed-out group match shares the points: one each.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · recall

Rain stopped play on the first day; the match resumed the next day and New Zealand won.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

With so many group games, there is no time to add spare days for them.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · recall

Knockout games and finals need a result, so they get the spare day.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · applied

A tie is a finished match with level scores; a no result was never completed.

Source: General playing principle · recall

Without the minimum overs for the side batting second, no result can be given.

Source: ICC Men's Playing Conditions · applied

A match taken into its reserve day resumes from where it stopped.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · applied

Shared points can leave sides level, and net run rate then separates them.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · applied

If a semi-final and its reserve day are both washed out, the side placed higher in the group goes through.

Source: ICC event playing conditions · applied