Rules for Quick Cricket

Those not familiar with cricket may know it as a game that can have matches lasting several days, interrupted by quaint British customs like tea breaks. These traditions still have a place in cricket, but variations in rules of the game can be placed to reduce the time available for play into hours rather than days.

  1. Limited Overs Formats

    • The most common rule change found in quicker versions of cricket is reducing each team's turn at bat, also known as an innings, by reducing the number of overs, or sets of six chances they have to score runs.

      The highest level of cricket, known as a Test Match, gives each team three innings with 50 overs in each innings. Twenty20 cricket, a new professional form of the sport, allows only one innings per team and 20 overs each, reducing the time needed to complete a match from 20 or more for a Test Match into an approximately two- to three-hour match, comparable to other contemporary sports and forms of entertainment.

      Various Limited Overs styles matches such as Twenty20 can vary the amount of overs a team receives between 20 and 50.

      With fewer overs, the batting team is less concerned with expending their outs and therefore is more likely to be aggressive in their chances to score, and unlike other variations on the sport, the only rule change is the amount of overs each team receives.

    Sixes Cricket

    • Sixes Cricket is an even shorter version of the sport, played in Hong Kong.

      In Sixes Cricket, there are six rather than 11 fielders, an innings is five overs rather than 20 to 50, and the batting team's innings can be ended prematurely with six wickets taken rather than 10.

      Other variations include more runs awarded than usual for bowling penalties such as wides and no balls and forced substitutions of batters after they reach 31 runs or one over each.

    Cricket Max

    • Cricket Max is a form of cricket invented by former New Zealand team captain Martin Crowe.

      Cricket Max matches have two innings each with 10 overs per innings. A two rather than one run penalty is assessed against the bowling side on No Balls, but the batter can still be gotten out during the following free bowl, encouraging batters to become more aggressive on the following extra bowl.

      Wickets are also wider, making it easier to target and trap the batters in Leg By Wicket outs, and trapezoids on the field known as "max zones" act as surrogate boundaries within the field, making it easier for teams to score automatic four or six run clusters.