The result in a game of cricket may be a win for one of the two teams playing, a draw or a tie. In the case of a limited overs game, the game can also end with no result. Which of these results applies, and how the result is expressed is governed by Law 21 of the Laws of cricket.[1]
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The result of a match is a win when one side scores more runs than the opposing side and all the innings of the team that has fewer runs have been completed.[2] The side scoring more runs has won the game, and the side scoring fewer has lost. If the match ends without all the innings being completed, the result may be a draw or no result (see below).
See also: Tied Test, List of tied One-day Internationals
The result of a match is a tie when the scores are equal at the conclusion of play, but only if the side batting last has completed its innings (i.e. all innings are completed, or, in limited-overs cricket, the set number of overs has been played or play is terminally stopped by weather or bad light).[3] This is unusual, and in the history of Test cricket has happened only twice:
In some forms of one-day cricket, such as Twenty20, a Super Over is used to decide a result that would otherwise be a tie.
The result of a match is a draw if a match is concluded, as defined in Law 16, without being a win or a tie.[4] This means that a draw occurs when a team does not complete its innings by the scheduled end of play. In matches where the number of overs is not limited, therefore, a team unable to win may be able to 'save the draw' by managing to not complete its final innings (i.e. by having batsmen left at the end of play who are 'not out'). The match is then drawn regardless of the total of runs accumulated by either side.
In limited overs matches, a draw is not a possible result (except in some amateur leagues where the league rules allow for such).
A no result is effectively the same as a draw, secure a draw as above - if they have scored fewer runs they have lost the game. A no result, therefore, occurs only when weather conditions stop play before the second team have batted enough overs to have a recalculated target under the Duckworth-Lewis method or other rain rules. In One Day International cricket, one team needs to have faced fewer than 20 overs (of the allotted 50 for a match) for a match to be a no result.
A match can be abandoned if weather or other conditions prevent any play from occurring at all. If the bowler of the first over of play has not started his/her runup when the officials decide to abandon play then the result is termed 'abandoned without a ball being bowled'. Such a game is not included in official statistical records.
Before July 2004, the same result occurred if the toss had been taken but the match was abandoned before a ball was bowled. Since 2004, the International Cricket Council for International matches has decreed that a match where the toss takes place but which is abandoned without a ball being bowled is either a draw or (for a limited-overs match) a no result. Such games are now included in statistical records, counting, for example, as a game played by the teams and nominated players.
The umpires also have the power to award a match to one side where the other side either concedes defeat or in the opinion of the umpires refuses to play, in which case the game can be deemed to have been forfeited by the side in question.[5] (Note that this is not the same as the (voluntary) forefeiture of an innings under Law 14.) This power is very rarely used. Before this rule was introduced there had been cases in the international arena where one team has refused to play, or deliberately stopped playing for a while. One notable incident was when Sri Lanka temporarily stopped play against England when Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing by umpire Darrell Hair.
The only time to date that a Test match has been won in this manner is when umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove awarded England the Fourth Test against Pakistan on 20 August 2006 after Pakistan refused to take the field at the scheduled time after tea on the fourth day. This was because Hair alleged that Pakistani bowlers tampered the ball. He did not name a player involved in the incident. Later during the ICC general body meeting in 2008, the result was changed to "match drawn", and then in February 2009 changed back to an England win.
The laws of cricket allow a team to concede a match. This seldom happens, but it covers the situation where the scoreboard has in good faith displayed an incorrect score which is accepted by the “losing” team who leave the field, thereby conceding the match to the opposition.
The result of a cricket match is stated in several ways: