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Understanding The Situations in which a team would declare

CricDummy

Cricket Spectator
Hi All,

I am slowly getting into watching cricket and absolutely loving it. Just watching the Pakistan vs Australia test at the MCG and both of the first days were rained out. So my understanding is that a test match generally can not go for more than 5 days. I have some questions to get an understanding of why a team would declare their innings:

1. What happens if Australia bats their innings, but doesn't get all out by the fifth day and is still trailing pakistan?
2. What happens Australia bats their second innings and gets all out on the fourth day(still trailing Pakistan). How do they decide if another innings is to be played? Because then the risk would become that only 1 team would get to bat.



Thanks in Advance

CricDummy
 

cnerd123

likes this
1) The match will end as a draw

2) Not sure I get what you're asking.

If Australia were in their second innings -IE, they have batted twice- and get all out while still trailing Pakistan, then that means Pakistan wins. This is because they have been bowled out twice and ended up with less runs than Pakistan did. So if the scorecard read something like:

Pakistan 300/10, Australia 200/10, Pakistan 150/10, Australia 150/10

Then Pakistan won by 100 runs, since their match tally over two innings (450) was larger than Australia's (350) by 100 runs.

Or you could have a scenario like the following:

Pakistan 500/10, Australia 220/10 and 200/10

Pakistan's one innings was greater than Australia's two innings put together. In this situation, Pakistan have won by an innings and 80 runs

The second scenario can only happen when one side has the option of enforcing the Follow-On.

However, if you mean Australia are batting in the second innings of the match (their first innings), and were all out trailing Pakistan, then it would be Pakistan's turn to bat. If Pakistan's lead is large enough, they can choose to enforce the Follow-on.

As for your general question on why a team would declare its innings -> usually they declare when they feel they have enough runs and want to start bowling. You'll see this a lot in cases where a side is chasing a victory, and are batting in the third innings of the game (their second innings) with a substantial lead but with time running out. In order to give themselves enough time to bowl out the opposition and avoid a draw, they declare.

Sometimes teams batting first will score a ridiculously high number of runs in the first innings, and decide they have enough and so declare so that they can begin bowling.

Recently, South Africa declared their first innings of a day/night Test at something like 250/9, because they figured their last-wicket partnership wouldn't score a substantial amount of runs, and they wanted to bowl with the new ball under lights.
 
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CricDummy

Cricket Spectator
What if the second team doesn't have enough time to bat their second innings?

Understood. I think I understand. Actually my second question relates to a scenario where Pakistan 300/10, Australia 150/10, Pakistan 150/10 on evening of the fifth day so Australia don't have time to bat.What would be the decision in this situation?


1) The match will end as a draw

2) Not sure I get what you're asking.

If Australia were in their second innings -IE, they have batted twice- and get all out while still trailing Pakistan, then that means Pakistan wins. This is because they have been bowled out twice and ended up with less runs than Pakistan did. So if the scorecard read something like:

Pakistan 300/10, Australia 200/10, Pakistan 150/10, Australia 150/10

Then Pakistan won by 100 runs, since their match tally over two innings (450) was larger than Australia's (350) by 100 runs.

Or you could have a scenario like the following:

Pakistan 500/10, Australia 220/10 and 200/10

Pakistan's one innings was greater than Australia's two innings put together. In this situation, Pakistan have won by an innings and 80 runs

The second scenario can only happen when one side has the option of enforcing the Follow-On.

However, if you mean Australia are batting in the second innings of the match (their first innings), and were all out trailing Pakistan, then it would be Pakistan's turn to bat. If Pakistan's lead is large enough, they can choose to enforce the Follow-on.

As for your general question on why a team would declare its innings -> usually they declare when they feel they have enough runs and want to start bowling. You'll see this a lot in cases where a side is chasing a victory, and are batting in the third innings of the game (their second innings) with a substantial lead but with time running out. In order to give themselves enough time to bowl out the opposition and avoid a draw, they declare.

Sometimes teams batting first will score a ridiculously high number of runs in the first innings, and decide they have enough and so declare so that they can begin bowling.

Recently, South Africa declared their first innings of a day/night Test at something like 250/9, because they figured their last-wicket partnership wouldn't score a substantial amount of runs, and they wanted to bowl with the new ball under lights.
 

cnerd123

likes this
It would be a draw in that situation, although given that Pakistan need just 1 run to win it's highly unlikely play would end without letting that happen. But yea, incase he did happen then they would call it a draw.
 

CricDummy

Cricket Spectator
Perfect, thanks for the great explanation.

It would be a draw in that situation, although given that Pakistan need just 1 run to win it's highly unlikely play would end without letting that happen. But yea, incase he did happen then they would call it a draw.
 

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