Limited overs cricket


Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket, Twenty20 cricket, and 100-ball cricket. The name reflects the rule that in the match each team bowls a set maximum number of overs, usually between 20 and 50, although shorter and longer forms of limited overs cricket have been played.
The concept contrasts with Test and first-class matches, which can take up to five days to complete. One-day cricket is popular with spectators as it can encourage aggressive, risky, entertaining batting, often results in cliffhanger endings, and ensures that a spectator can watch an entire match without committing to five days of continuous attendance.

Structure

Each team bats only once, and each innings is limited to a set number of overs, usually fifty in a One Day International and between forty and sixty in a List A. List A is a classification of the limited-overs form of cricket, technically as the domestic level.
Despite its name, important one-day matches, international and domestic, often have two days set aside, the second day being a "reserve" day to allow more chance of the game being completed if a result is not possible on the first day.

Tiebreaker

In some tied limited-overs games, a Super Over is played, wherein each team bats for a one-over innings with two wickets in hand. A tied Super Over may be followed by another Super Over.

Player restrictions

Bowling restrictions

In almost all competitive one-day games, a restriction is placed on the number of overs that may be bowled by any one bowler. This is to prevent a side playing two top-class bowlers with extremely good stamina who can bowl throughout their opponents' innings. The usual limitation is set so that a side must include at least five players who bowl i.e. each bowler can only bowl 20% of the overs. For example, the usual limit for twenty-over cricket is four overs per bowler, for forty-over cricket eight per bowler and for fifty-over cricket ten per bowler. There are exceptions: Pro Cricket in the United States restricted bowlers to five overs each, thus leaving a side requiring only four bowlers.

Fielding restrictions

White balls

Limited over cricket is usually played with white balls rather than the traditional red balls. This was introduced because the team batting second is likely to need to play under floodlights and a white ball is easier to see under these conditions. The white balls are supposed to be otherwise identical to traditional balls, but according to BBC Sport, some cricketers claim that the harder surface causes white balls to swing more.

History

The idea for a one-day, limited 50-over cricket tournament, was first played in the inaugural match of the All India Pooja Cricket Tournament in 1951 at Tripunithura in Kochi, Kerala. It is thought to be the brain child of KV Kelappan Thampuran, a former cricketer and the first Secretary of the Kerala Cricket Association. The first limited-overs tournament between first-class English teams was the Midlands Knock-Out Cup, which took place in May 1962. Played with 65-over innings, the Cup was organised by Mike Turner, secretary of the Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The competition was small, with three other county teams participating in addition to Leicestershire. However, it drew commercial television coverage and positive commentary by journalists, who noted the potential to attract sponsors and spectators amid declining attendance levels.
The following year, the first full-scale one-day competition between first-class teams was played, the knock-out Gillette Cup, won by Sussex. The number of overs was reduced to 60 for the 1964 season. League one-day cricket also began in England, when the John Player Sunday League was started in 1969 with 40-over matches. Both these competitions continued, with changes in sponsorship, till 2010, when they were replaced by the ECB 40. This was in turn replaced by the 50-over One-Day Cup in 2014.
The first Limited Overs International or One-Day International match was played between Australia and England in Melbourne on 5 January 1971, and the quadrennial cricket World Cup began in 1975. Many of the "packaging" innovations, such as coloured clothing, were as a result of World Series Cricket, a "rebel" series set up outside the cricketing establishment by Australian entrepreneur Kerry Packer. For more details, see History of cricket.
Twenty20, a curtailed form of one-day cricket with 20 overs per side, was first played in England in 2003. It has proven very popular, and several Twenty20 matches have been played between national teams. It makes several changes to the usual laws of cricket, including the use of a Super Over to decide the result of tied matches.
100-ball cricket, another form of one-day cricket with 100 deliveries per side, launched in England in 2021. It is designed to further shorten game time and to attract a new audience. It makes further changes to the usual laws of cricket, such as the involvement of overs that last 5 balls each.
There are now also T10 leagues with a format of 10 overs per side. The Emirates Cricket Board also launched Ninety–90 Bash, an upcoming annual franchise-based 90-ball cricket league in the United Arab Emirates.

One Day Internationals

matches are usually played in brightly coloured clothing often in a "day-night" format where the first innings of the day occurs in the afternoon and the second occurs under stadium lights.

One Day International tournaments

In the early days of ODI cricket, the number of overs was generally 60 overs per side, and matches were also played with 40, 45 or 55 overs per side, but now it has been uniformly fixed at 50 overs.
Every four years, the Cricket World Cup involves all the Test-playing nations and other national sides who qualify through the ICC World Cup Qualifier. It usually consists of round-robin stages, followed by semi-finals and a final. The International Cricket Council determines the venue far in advance.
The ICC Champions Trophy involves all the Test-playing nations, and is held between World Cups. It usually consists of a round-robin group stage, semifinals, and a final.
Each Test-playing country often hosts triangular tournaments, between the host nation and two touring sides. There is usually a round-robin group, and then the leading two teams play each other in a final, or sometimes a best-of-three final. When there is only one touring side, there is still often a best-of-five or best-of-seven series of limited overs matches.
The ICC World Cricket League is an ODI competition for national teams with Associate or Affiliate status.

List A status

List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs form of the sport of cricket. Much as domestic first-class cricket is the level below international Test match cricket, so List A cricket is the domestic level of one-day cricket below One Day Internationals. Twenty20 matches do not qualify for the present.
Most cricketing nations have some form of domestic List A competition. The number of overs in List A cricket ranges from forty to sixty overs per side.
The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians created this category for the purpose of providing an equivalent to first-class cricket, to allow the generation of career records and statistics for comparable one-day matches. Only the more important one-day competitions in each country, plus matches against a touring Test team, are included. The categorisation of cricket matches as "List A" was not officially endorsed by the International Cricket Council until 2006, when the ICC announced that it and its member associations would be determining this classification in a manner similar to that done for first class matches.
Matches that qualify as List A:
  • One Day Internationals
  • Other international matches.
  • Premier one-day tournaments in permanent test playing nations
  • Official matches of a Test nations against first-class teams
  • Official international matches between second-tier ODI teams
Matches that do not qualify as List A:
  • World Cup warm-up matches
  • Other Tourist matches
  • Festival and friendly matches
  • One Day tournaments in not test playing nations.

    Domestic competitions

Domestic one-day competitions exist in almost every country where cricket is played. The table below lists the limited overs tournaments that take place in each full member nation.
CountryTournamentFormat
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Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament50 overs
Green Afghanistan One Day Cup50 overs
Shpageeza Cricket League20 overs
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Marsh One-Day Cup50 overs
Big Bash League20 overs
Women's National Cricket League50 overs
Women's Big Bash League20 overs
--
Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League50 overs
Bangladesh Premier League20 overs
Dhaka Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket League20 overs
Bangladesh Women's National Cricket League50 overs
--
Royal London One-Day Cup50 overs
T20 Blast20 overs
The Hundred100-ball
Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy50 overs
Charlotte Edwards Cup20 overs
Women's Twenty20 Cup20 overs
--
Vijay Hazare Trophy50 overs
Deodhar Trophy50 overs
Indian Premier League20 overs
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy20 overs
Women's Senior One Day Trophy50 overs
Senior Women's Challenger Trophy50 overs
Women's Senior T20 Trophy20 overs
Women's Senior T20 Challenger Trophy20 overs
Women's Premier League20 overs
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Inter-Provincial Cup50 overs
Inter-Provincial Trophy20 overs
Women's Super Series50/20 overs
--
The Ford Trophy50 overs
Men's Super Smash20 overs
Hallyburton Johnstone Shield50 overs
Women's Super Smash20 overs
--
Pakistan Cup50 overs
National T20 Cup20 overs
Pakistan Super League20 overs
Pakistan Women's One Day Cup50 overs
PCB Triangular Twenty20 Women's Tournament20 overs
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CSA One-Day Cup50 overs
CSA Provincial T20 Cup20 overs
CSA T20 League20 overs
Women's Provincial Programme50 overs
Women's Provincial T20 Competition20 overs
Women's T20 Super League20 overs
--
National Super League50 overs
SLC Invitational T20 League20 overs
Lanka Premier League20 overs
Sri Lanka Women's Division One Tournament50 overs
Sri Lanka Women's Invitation T20 Tournament20 overs
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Super50 Cup50 overs
Caribbean Premier League20 overs
The 6ixty10 overs
Women's Super50 Cup50 overs
Twenty20 Blaze20 overs
Women's Caribbean Premier League20 overs
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Pro50 Championship50 overs
Stanbic Bank 20 Series20 overs
Fifty50 Challenge50 overs
Women's T20 Cup20 overs