These are the cricket facts Insporta checked against a primary source while writing and reviewing its tests: the MCC Laws of Cricket, 2017 code (3rd edition 2022); the ICC playing conditions, which override the Laws in international cricket and are where the format differences live; and ESPNcricinfo, Wisden and the ICC for records, dates and history. Each fact carries its status and the source it was checked against, and a statement that is correct under the Laws can be wrong for an ODI, so the source column says which one applies. Records were checked against a live search on the date shown, not from memory. Last check: 6 September 2026. The tests these facts underpin are described at Cricket on Insporta.
The Laws
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The 2017 code has 42 Laws: 1 The players; 2 The umpires; 3 The scorers; 4 The ball; 5 The bat; 6 The pitch; 7 The creases; 8 The wickets; 9 Preparation and maintenance of the playing area; 10 Covering the pitch; 11 Intervals; 12 Start of play, cessation of play; 13 Innings; 14 The follow-on; 15 Declaration and forfeiture; 16 The result; 17 The over; 18 Scoring runs; 19 Boundaries; 20 Dead ball; 21 No ball; 22 Wide ball; 23 Bye and Leg bye; 24 Fielders’ absence, Substitutes; 25 Batter’s innings, Runners; 26 Practice on the field; 27 The wicket-keeper; 28 The fielder; 29 The wicket is down; 30 Batter out of their ground; 31 Appeals; 32 Bowled; 33 Caught; 34 Hit the ball twice; 35 Hit wicket; 36 Leg before wicket; 37 Obstructing the field; 38 Run out; 39 Stumped; 40 Timed out; 41 Unfair play; 42 Players’ conduct. | Stable (2017 code, 3rd edition 2022) | MCC Laws of Cricket, contents |
| The toss is held not more than 15 minutes before the scheduled start. | Stable | MCC Law 13 |
| Follow-on: in a two-innings match of five days or more, the side batting first and leading by at least 200 runs may enforce it. The Law scales it down: 150 for three or four days, 100 for two days, 75 for one day. | Stable | MCC Law 14 |
| The men’s ball, when new, weighs not less than 5.5 oz (155.9 g) and not more than 5.75 oz (163 g). | Stable | MCC Law 4 |
| The bat: maximum length 38 in, maximum width 4.25 in. The 2017 code added an edge limit (1.56 in) and a depth limit (2.64 in). The blade must be wood, a rule dating from the Dennis Lillee aluminium-bat episode in Perth, December 1979. | Stable; edge and depth limits since 2017 | MCC Law 5 |
| Breaking the wicket: at least one bail completely removed, or a stump struck out of the ground. With no bails on, only uprooting a stump counts. | Stable | MCC Law 29 |
| Underarm bowling is a no-ball unless agreed before the match. The ban followed the Trevor Chappell incident, Australia v New Zealand, 1 February 1981, when the last ball was rolled to Brian McKechnie. | Stable | MCC Law 21 |
| A helmet left on the ground behind the keeper and struck by the ball: 5 penalty runs to the batting side. | Stable (Law 28.3 in the 2017 code; Law 41 in earlier codes) | MCC Law 28.3 |
| Leg-side field: no more than two fielders behind square on the leg side at the instant of delivery; a third makes it a no-ball. Only fielders behind square count; level with or in front of square is unrestricted. The limit was the response to the 1932-33 Bodyline series. | Stable | MCC Law 28.4 |
Playing conditions and format differences
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Test: up to five days; 90 overs per day scheduled, a target rather than an innings cap; whites and a red ball (pink for day-night); three sessions split by lunch and tea; the new ball is available after 80 overs. | Stable | ICC Men’s Playing Conditions, current |
| ODI: 50 overs a side, one innings each, in a single day of roughly seven to eight hours; coloured clothing and a white ball; two new balls per innings, one from each end for 25 overs each; each bowler capped at 10 overs. | Stable | ICC Men’s Playing Conditions |
| ODI powerplays: overs 1-10, at most 2 fielders outside the 30-yard circle; overs 11-40, at most 4; overs 41-50, at most 5. The circle is two 30-yard arcs from each middle stump joined by straight lines. The Law’s two-behind-square leg-side limit still applies on every ball. A pre-match reduction scales the phase boundaries in proportion. | Stable | ICC Men’s Playing Conditions |
| T20 and T20I: 20 overs a side, about three hours; each bowler capped at 4 overs; powerplay in the first 6 overs with at most 2 fielders outside the circle, then at most 5 outside for the rest of the innings. A rain-reduced innings scales the powerplay down. | Stable | ICC Men’s Playing Conditions |
| DRS unsuccessful reviews per innings: more in a Test than in a white-ball match. The exact figures have moved between playing-condition revisions (2 against 1, with a pandemic-era rise to 3), so Insporta’s tests assert only the direction, not a number. | Varies by revision | ICC Playing Conditions |
| The Hundred: 100 balls per innings, bowled in sets of 5; a bowler may deliver 5 or 10 consecutive balls from the same end; ends change every 10 balls. Launched in 2021, a year late because of the pandemic. | Stable | ECB rules of The Hundred |
| First men’s Cricket World Cup: 1975, in England, won by West Indies. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| First men’s T20 International: 17 February 2005, Australia v New Zealand, Eden Park, Auckland. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| The World Test Championship began on 1 August 2019. | Verified | ICC |
| Only two tied Tests have ever been played: Brisbane 1960 (Australia v West Indies) and Chennai 1986 (India v Australia). | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| Australia used eight-ball overs until 1978-79 and switched to six-ball overs from 1979-80. Six-ball overs are now universal. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
Batting Laws
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Obstructing the field: either batter is out if, while the ball is in play, they wilfully attempt to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action, so a deliberate shout counts, not only a physical act. Accidental obstruction, and obstruction while genuinely avoiding injury, are not out. | Stable | MCC Law 37, 37.2 |
| Handled the ball no longer exists as a separate dismissal. The 2017 code folded it into obstructing the field: the striker is out if, in receiving a delivery, they wilfully strike the ball with a hand not holding the bat, even to guard the wicket. A hand holding the bat counts as part of the bat. | Changed in the 2017 code | MCC Law 37.1.2 |
| Returning the ball without consent: either batter is out obstructing the field if they use the bat or their person to return the ball to a fielder without a fielder’s consent while the ball is in play. | Stable | MCC Law 37.4 |
| For obstructing the field no bowler is credited. Completed runs and penalties before the offence stand, except that the striker scores nothing if the obstruction prevented a catch. | Stable | MCC Law 37.6 |
| Hit the ball twice: after the ball has struck bat or person, the striker may deliberately hit it again solely to guard the wicket; a second hit for any other purpose is out. No runs may be scored off a lawful second strike: the umpire calls dead ball, though penalties already incurred on that ball, such as a no-ball, stand. A deliberate second hit with bat or person (a pad or foot counts) to send the ball for runs is out. Returning the ball to a fielder with the bat is allowed, subject to consent. | Stable | MCC Law 34.2, 34.3, 34.4 |
| Timed out: after a wicket falls or a batter retires, the incoming batter or their partner must be ready to receive within 3 minutes under the Law; not out if Time has already been called. ICC playing conditions shorten this to 2 minutes for internationals. | Stable (Law); 2 minutes in ICC conditions | MCC Law 40; ICC Playing Conditions |
| First “timed out” dismissal in international cricket: Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, ODI World Cup, Delhi, 6 November 2023, after a helmet-strap failure. The 2023 tournament conditions used 2 minutes. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| Retired: a batter who retires for injury or illness is “retired, not out” and may resume the innings, returning at the fall of the next wicket or when another batter retires. A batter who retires for any other reason without the opposing captain’s consent is “retired, out”: a legitimate dismissal, used tactically in T20, with no bowler credited. | Stable | MCC Law 25.4, 25.4.2 |
| Running out the non-striker (the “Mankad”) is a fair run out under Law 38.3, moved there from the unfair-play Law in the 2022 update. The bowler may attempt it up to the instant they would normally have released the ball. Named after Vinoo Mankad, who ran out Bill Brown this way in 1947-48. A high-profile modern case: Deepti Sharma ran out Charlie Dean at Lord’s on 24 September 2022, sealing a 3-0 ODI series win for India. | Moved to Law 38.3 in 2022 | MCC Law 38.3; ESPNcricinfo |
| Run out generally: the ball stays live after a stroke is finished, so a batter who leaves their ground, for instance to garden the pitch, can be run out. A run out is available off a no-ball. Rattling the stumps without dislodging a bail is not enough. | Stable | MCC Laws 38 and 29 |
| “Handled the ball” in the record books: England’s Graham Gooch, out handled the ball for 133 in the first Ashes Test at Old Trafford, 3-7 June 1993, off Merv Hughes, given by Dickie Bird: the only player dismissed that way after a century. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
Fielding and wicket-keeping Laws
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wicket-keeper’s position: the keeper must remain wholly behind the stumps at the striker’s end from the moment the ball comes into play until the ball touches the striker’s bat or person, passes the wicket at the striker’s end, or the striker attempts a run. If the keeper contravenes this, the striker’s-end umpire calls and signals no ball after the delivery, and a batter cannot be bowled or stumped off it. The keeper’s depth, up to the stumps or standing back, is the fielding side’s free choice; the Laws do not prescribe it. | Stable | MCC Law 27.3 |
| Protective equipment: only the wicket-keeper may wear gloves and external leg guards. Other fielders may wear a helmet. If the ball touches protective equipment a fielder is not entitled to wear, the ball is dead and 5 penalty runs go to the batting side. | Stable | MCC Laws 27.2 and 28 |
| Illegal fielding: a fielder may field the ball with any part of their person, but deliberately using anything else (a cap, a helmet in the hand, clothing) is 5 penalty runs plus dead ball; runs already completed stand and the penalty is added. An accidental deflection off body or kit is fair, with no penalty. | Stable | MCC Law 28.2 |
| Fake fielding and distraction: it is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batter after the striker has received the ball. Penalty: dead ball, called at once, plus 5 penalty runs; runs already completed stand. The umpires decide whether it was wilful. Introduced in the 2017 code because fielders faked slides and throws to make batters turn down a run. Deliberate distraction of the striker as they prepare to receive is covered separately, with the same penalty. | In the Laws since 2017 | MCC Law 41.5 and 41.4 |
| First player penalised for fake fielding: Marnus Labuschagne, for Australia against India, third ODI, Canberra, 2 December 2020. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| Fielder off the field, penalty time: on returning, a fielder may not bowl until they have been on the field for as long as they were absent. Time off is added to any unserved penalty time up to a maximum of 120 minutes under the Law; ICC T20I conditions scale it down to 40 minutes. Penalty time keeps counting down while the side bats and after the player is dismissed; a wicket falling does not reset it; the umpires track it. A side may field with fewer than eleven. | Stable (Law); 40 minutes in T20I conditions | MCC Law 24.2; ICC Playing Conditions |
| Substitutes may field only, not bat or bowl. Since the 2017 code a substitute may keep wicket, but only with the umpires’ consent. A catch by a substitute is a fair catch and the bowler is credited. A substitute cannot captain the side; a member of the playing eleven deputises. Bringing a substitute on needs an umpire’s consent. | Stable; keeping allowed since 2017 | MCC Law 24.1 |
| Runners are abolished. The 2017 code removed the runner for an injured batter entirely: the batter carries on unaided or retires hurt. | Changed in the 2017 code | MCC Law 25 |
| A concussion replacement, who may bat and bowl as a full like-for-like replacement approved by the match referee, is an ICC playing-conditions provision, not part of the Laws. | ICC conditions since August 2019 | ICC Playing Conditions |
Umpires and decisions
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Umpire signals: dead ball, wrists crossed and re-crossed below the waist; no ball, one arm extended horizontally; wide, both arms extended horizontally; out, one index finger raised above the head; boundary four, an arm waved across the body finishing across the chest; boundary six, both arms raised above the head; bye, an open hand raised above the head; leg bye, a raised knee touched with the hand; short run, one arm bent up with the near shoulder touched by the fingertips; five penalty runs to the batting side, repeated tapping of one shoulder with the opposite hand; five penalty runs to the fielding side, one hand placed on the opposite shoulder; new ball, the ball held above the head; last hour, a raised wrist pointed to with the other hand. Referring a decision to the TV umpire: a rectangle drawn in the air. | Stable | MCC Law 2.13 |
| The umpire must wait for a scorer to separately acknowledge each signal before play proceeds. Signals to the scorers are given when the ball is dead; in-play calls such as no ball and wide are made at once. | Stable | MCC Law 2.13.2 |
| Jurisdiction: the bowler’s-end umpire answers bowled, lbw and caught; the striker’s-end (square-leg) umpire answers stumped, hit wicket and run out at the striker’s end. The umpires swap ends each over. | Stable | MCC Law 2 |
| Authority: the umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play and of whether ground, weather or light are dangerous or unreasonable; a suspension is their call whatever the sides want. An umpire may reverse a decision if done promptly. They keep the over count and settle a miscount between themselves without restarting the over. | Stable | MCC Law 2 |
| Appeals: no batter is out without an appeal, which must come before the bowler starts the next over or before Time. “How’s that?” is customary but any words asking the question suffice. An appeal is general, so the umpire may give out by any mode the delivery supports. The fielding captain may withdraw an appeal, recalling a dismissed batter, with the umpire’s consent before play resumes. Walking is the batter’s own choice; the Laws neither require nor forbid it. | Stable | MCC Law 31 |
| DRS is an ICC playing-conditions provision, not in the Laws, and applies only where adopted for a series. It is started by a T-sign from the captain or the dismissed batter within about 15 seconds. Each side has a limited number of unsuccessful reviews per innings; a successful one is not deducted. If the evidence is inconclusive, the on-field decision stands. | ICC conditions; review counts vary by revision | ICC Playing Conditions |
| LBW ball-tracking checks three things: where the ball pitched, the point of impact, and whether it was going on to hit the stumps. A ball pitching outside leg stump is not out whatever else shows. Impact outside off stump saves the batter only if a genuine shot was played; offering no shot removes that let-off (Law 36). Ball-tracking is a modelled projection with a stated margin of error. | Stable | MCC Law 36; ICC Playing Conditions |
| “Umpire’s call”: the ball-tracking margin is fine enough that the on-field decision, out or not out, is kept, so identical tracking can give opposite results on opposite original calls. Under current conditions the reviewing side keeps its review on an umpire’s-call outcome. The “wickets” zone is the stumps and bails plus a set margin. | Stable under current conditions | ICC Playing Conditions |
| The soft signal was scrapped by the ICC from 1 June 2023. On-field umpires now refer a low or contentious catch to the TV umpire with no on-field call attached; the third umpire decides on the technology alone, and if replays are inconclusive makes the best decision available, with no default to a prior call. It was dropped because the “clear evidence to overturn” burden meant a soft signal was rarely reversed. | Changed 1 June 2023 | ICC; ESPNcricinfo |
| Third umpire: decides referred run-outs, stumpings, boundary and clean-catch checks, and monitors the front-foot no-ball on every delivery. Fourth umpire: spare balls, drinks, off-field administration, reserve official. Match referee: an appointee of the governing body handling the Code of Conduct, over rates and discipline off the field, with no power over on-field or third-umpire decisions. | Stable | ICC Playing Conditions |
Match regulations
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Free hit: under current ICC conditions it follows any no-ball, not only a front-foot one. Off a free hit the striker cannot be out bowled, caught, lbw, stumped or hit wicket, but can be out run out, hit the ball twice or obstructing the field. The ball is live: byes and leg byes count and the batters may run even if “bowled”. The field may not be changed from the no-ball delivery unless the striker has changed ends. A no-ball or wide on the free-hit delivery carries the free hit to the next ball. Signal: the umpire circles a raised arm after the no-ball signal. | Stable under current conditions | ICC Playing Conditions |
| Stop clock: permanent in men’s ODIs and T20Is from 1 June 2024, after a trial from late 2023. The fielding side must be ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds of the last one ending; two warnings per innings, then 5 penalty runs for each further breach. The third umpire runs the on-ground countdown. It pauses or resets for genuine stoppages (a wicket, an injury, a review, drinks) but not for slow field-setting. | In force since 1 June 2024 | ICC Playing Conditions |
| Other over-rate penalties: a white-ball side behind the rate at a set point must bring an extra fielder inside the circle for the remaining overs. The World Test Championship docks championship points for slow over rates. In a Test, overs short of the day’s 90 are made up on later days and a persistent slow rate brings match-referee sanctions on the captain. | Stable | ICC Playing Conditions |
| Intervals: a Test day has three sessions split by lunch (about 40 minutes) and tea (about 20 minutes), with one short drinks break per session. An interval is brought forward if an innings ends shortly before it. Up to 30 extra minutes may be added at the end of a day if the umpires judge a result is close, and the last hour must contain at least 15 overs. The ODI innings break is about 30 to 45 minutes, shorter in a T20. Lost overs are made up by earlier starts and later finishes on following days. | Stable | ICC Playing Conditions |
| DLS produces a revised target or par score when weather shortens a limited-overs match, valuing an innings as two resources: overs remaining and wickets in hand. The side batting second wins by finishing above the par score. Minimum for a result: 20 overs a side in an ODI, 5 overs a side in a T20; below that it is a no-result. | Stable | ICC Playing Conditions |
| Concussion replacement: a full like-for-like replacement who may bat and bowl, approved by the match referee; a clear upgrade, such as a frontline bowler for a specialist batter, may be blocked or restricted. | ICC conditions since August 2019 | ICC Playing Conditions |
Skills and tactics
These are coaching facts rather than Laws, checked against the ESPNcricinfo glossary and recognised coaching material.
Batting
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A trigger movement is a small pre-delivery step timed to the bowler’s release, so the batter is balanced and still as the ball is bowled. “Back and across” takes the back foot back and towards off stump. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary; coaching material |
| A side-on stance lines the front shoulder, hip and head down the pitch. An open or chest-on stance gives a clearer leg-side view but makes repeatable straight driving and defence harder. It does not “open the gate”: that phrase is about the gap between front pad and bat, not the stance. | Corrected during review, 4 September 2026 | Coaching material |
| The conventional sweep is played kneeling on the back knee (the right knee for a right-hander), front leg bent forward across the line, with a horizontal bat. The paddle is a soft fine deflection using the ball’s pace; the reverse sweep sends a leg-side ball square on the off side. | Corrected during review, 4 September 2026 | Coaching material |
| Front-foot drive: head over the front knee and over the ball at contact; a high front elbow keeps the face straight through the line. The on-drive is the hardest because it is played around the front pad. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Back-foot shots: the pull is played to a chest-high ball; the hook deals with it at head height or above; the cut needs width outside off. Rolling the wrists keeps cross-bat shots down. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Playing spin: use the feet to change the length and reach the pitch of the ball, smothering the turn; if stranded, cover the line with bat and pad; go deep in the crease to buy time for the cut or pull; work with the turn, not against it. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Running: the striker calls for anything in front of the wicket, the non-striker for anything behind. Backing up too far risks a non-striker run out under Law 38. | Coaching consensus; MCC Law 38 | Coaching material |
Pace bowling
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional swing: one side is kept shiny with sweat and hard rubbing only, saliva having been banned since 2022, the other left to scuff. For an outswinger to a right-hander the seam is angled at the slips with the shiny side to leg; the ball swings towards the seam side, away from the shiny side. A fuller length gives the curve time to work; late swing curves only in the last part of the flight. | Coaching consensus; saliva ban in the Laws since 2022 | ESPNcricinfo glossary; MCC Law 41.3 |
| Seam movement is deviation off the pitch when the ball lands on its raised seam; it needs no air curve and fades as ball and pitch age. The wobble-seam ball is held with the seam angled and allowed to wobble so neither bowler nor batter knows which way it will go. Cross-seam (seam flat) gives random bounce off the leather. A nip-backer seams back into the right-hander. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| Stock deliveries: the yorker pitches at the feet or the base of the stumps and is the death-overs weapon because it is hard to hit for four or six. The bouncer is used sparingly or it is pulled. The slower ball arrives later than the shot expects; the back-of-the-hand version keeps full arm speed with the wrist turned over. A good length is one that leaves the batter unsure whether to go forward or back, a relative measure rather than a fixed mark. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| Reverse swing needs an old, dry ball with one side badly scuffed, a contrast of shiny and rough rather than rough on both sides, plus genuine pace. It swings towards the shiny side, the opposite of conventional swing. A dry, abrasive outfield roughens the ball fast. The reverse yorker beats a batter who has lined up the away-swinger and gets one that comes in. | Corrected during review, 4 September 2026 | ESPNcricinfo glossary; coaching material |
| Lines and fields: the corridor of uncertainty is just outside off stump; a new-ball field is two or three slips and a gully; a bouncer field adds fine leg and deep square leg; going around the wicket to a right-hander straightens the angle and brings lbw into play. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
Spin bowling
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Off spin is a finger action with the first finger down the seam; the stock ball turns from off into the right-hander. The arm ball goes straight on without turn. The doosra turns away from the right-hander. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| Leg spin is a wrist action with a big hand turn and is less repeatable; the leg break turns away from the right-hander towards slip. The googly or wrong’un turns the opposite way, out of the back of the hand. The top-spinner dips, bounces and goes straight on. The flipper skids on low and quick, with backspin from the front of the hand. The slider holds its line and hurries the batter. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| Drift is sideways curve in the air before pitching, for a right-arm off-spinner away from the right-hander. Dip is the ball dropping shorter than expected, from overspin and loop. More sidespin than overspin turns more and bounces less. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| A right-arm off-spinner’s stock ball goes away from a left-hander. The rough is the scuffed footmarks just outside a batter’s stump; a right-arm off-spinner goes around the wicket to a left-hander to land in the rough outside off, and a left-arm orthodox spinner to a right-hander is the mirror of that. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Spin fields: short leg for the bat-pad catch, slip for the turning edge (finer and closer than for pace), silly point as the high-risk close catcher. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
Fielding, catching and keeping
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Positions: slips for the off-side edge, gully for the firmer or wider edge, third man behind the slips, long-on and long-off for the straight loft, square leg for the clip off the pads, leg slip for the leg-side feather. A ring fielder saves the single; a deep fielder protects the boundary. | Coaching consensus | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| Slip catching: watch the edge, not the hand; soft hands, giving with the ball; stay down until the last moment; the reverse cup (fingers down, thumbs together) for low catches. First slip stands deeper for pace than for spin. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Outfield: curve onto the ball to gather side-on; the crow-hop builds momentum into a long throw; a flat throw for a real run-out chance, a bounce throw for a clean take from distance; back up throws at the stumps. On the boundary, parry or toss the ball infield before touching the rope, re-enter, then complete the catch (Law 19). | Coaching consensus; MCC Law 19 | Coaching material |
| Keeping: stand up to slow and slow-medium bowling for the stumping; stand back to genuine pace and take the ball as it drops from its highest bounce; take with “give”. The leg-side take is hard because the batter’s body hides the ball. A keeper standing up to a medium-pacer pins the batter in the crease. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Run-outs: go for the direct hit when close and side-on with the stumps in view; throw to the end the slower batter is running to; take the ball first, then break the wicket; the bowler’s end is often the safer target because the throw is unscreened. Fake fielding costs 5 penalty runs (Law 41.5). | Coaching consensus; MCC Law 41.5 | Coaching material |
Captaincy and match situations
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Reading the pitch: green means seam early; dry and crumbling means spin, and worsening; cracks mean unpredictable bounce; two-paced means variable pace. At the toss, bowl first under cloud on a green pitch; bat first on a flat deck or a pitch that will turn later, because chasing last on a worn surface is the hardest job. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| The second new ball is available after 80 overs in a Test, at the fielding captain’s discretion, and is often delayed if the old ball is reversing or spinning. Match the bowler to the batter’s weakness, rotate short spells, and hold a strike bowler back for the death or a new batter. | Stable (80 overs); coaching consensus | ICC Playing Conditions; coaching material |
| Fields: an attacking field has the catchers in and concedes singles; a defensive field has the ring back and the boundaries covered; a “trap” leaves a tempting gap with a catcher waiting. A T20 powerplay, with only two fielders out, forces a wicket-hunting field. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| Chasing and defending: the required rate is runs left divided by overs left. Wickets in hand means attack; few wickets and a climbing rate means gamble. The DLS par score tells the chasing side whether it is ahead or behind if rain ends the game now. An early wicket is the defending side’s main lever. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
| The T20 death: manoeuvre the best striker on strike; the yorker is the stock death ball because it is hard to get under; the slower ball is a gamble if picked; “taking it deep” means keeping wickets in hand for a small target at the end; a captain defending a small total splits the best bowlers between powerplay and death. | Coaching consensus | Coaching material |
The competitive game
Checked against ESPNcricinfo, the ICC, Wisden and news coverage on 4 September 2026.
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| World Test Championship points: win 12, tie 6, draw 4. The table ranks by percentage of points available, not raw points, with over-rate penalties deducted. | Current for the 2023-25 cycle | ICC |
| 2025 ICC Champions Trophy: hosted by Pakistan; India played every match in Dubai, having declined to travel, and beat New Zealand by 4 wickets in the final at Dubai International Stadium on 9 March 2025 for a third title. | Verified | ICC; ESPNcricinfo |
| 2025 World Test Championship final: South Africa beat Australia by 5 wickets at Lord’s, 11-14 June 2025, South Africa’s first ICC title since 1998 and first WTC win; Aiden Markram (136) was Player of the Match. | Verified | ICC; ESPNcricinfo |
| 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup: co-hosted by the USA and West Indies; 20 teams in four groups of five, the top two to a Super Eight of two groups of four, the top two of those to the semi-finals. India won, beating South Africa in the final at Bridgetown. | Verified | ICC |
| IPL franchises: ten since the 2022 season, when Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants were added; still ten in 2024 and 2025. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| Highest men’s ODI team total: England 498 for 4 v Netherlands, Amstelveen, 17 June 2022 (Jos Buttler 162), beating England’s own previous record of 481 for 6. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| County Championship: Division One of 10 counties and Division Two of 8, two up and two down, unchanged for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. A 12-team single-division proposal for 2026 was tabled and rejected by vote; Insporta’s questions stay generic on team counts rather than citing a number that could change. | Verified for 2024 and 2025 | ECB; ESPNcricinfo |
| Highest individual men’s ODI score: Rohit Sharma, 264 off 173 balls v Sri Lanka, Kolkata, 13 November 2014; no ODI innings has since passed 250. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| Fastest men’s ODI century: AB de Villiers, 31 balls v West Indies, Johannesburg, 18 January 2015. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| Highest Test innings total: Sri Lanka 952 for 6 declared v India, Colombo, August 1997 (Sanath Jayasuriya 340); still unbroken. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| Lowest Test innings total: New Zealand 26 all out v England, Auckland, 28 March 1955; still the record. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| Fastest Test century by balls: Brendon McCullum, 54 balls v Australia, Christchurch, 20 February 2016, in his final Test. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| Ten wickets in a Test innings: Jim Laker (10 for 53, England v Australia, Old Trafford, 1956), Anil Kumble (10 for 74, India v Pakistan, Delhi, 1999) and Ajaz Patel (2021) are the three bowlers to have done it. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo records |
| Muralitharan throwing controversy: called by umpire Darrell Hair at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test of 1995, later cleared by ICC biomechanical analysis. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| Ian Meckiff: called for throwing by umpire Col Egar in the first Test v South Africa, December 1963, ending his career on the spot. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| South Africa’s readmission: first match back was an ODI v India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, 10 November 1991 (India won by 3 wickets); first Test back was v West Indies at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, 18-23 April 1992 (West Indies won by 52 runs), also South Africa’s first Test against a non-white nation. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| ICC membership: 12 Full Members. The Associate count varies between 92 and 96 across sources depending on the date, a nation having been added as recently as 2025, so Insporta says “about ninety” rather than a precise, quickly stale number. | Full Members stable; Associates vary | ICC |
The modern game
Checked against a live search on 5 September 2026.
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Border-Gavaskar Trophy: introduced in 1996, donated by the Indo-Australian Business Council, first presented for the one-off Test at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, October 1996. Named for Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| India’s 2018-19 tour of Australia: India won the series 2-1, its first-ever Test series win in Australia after 71 years of trying (won at Adelaide and Melbourne, lost Perth, Sydney drawn). This, not the 2020-21 series, is the maiden win. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| India’s 2020-21 tour of Australia: bowled out for 36, their lowest-ever Test total, in the first Test at Adelaide, lost it, then won the series 2-1 anyway, ending Australia’s 32-year unbeaten run at the Gabba. A repeat series win, not India’s first. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| The Frank Worrell Trophy was commissioned after the tied first Test of the 1960-61 Australia v West Indies series at the Gabba, Brisbane, 9-14 December 1960, the first tie in Test history. It is still the name of that bilateral trophy. | Verified | ESPNcricinfo |
| The England v West Indies Test trophy was renamed the Richards-Botham Trophy in 2020, honouring Viv Richards and Ian Botham. The Wisden Trophy is now the historical name only (1963-2020). | Corrected during review, 5 September 2026 | ESPNcricinfo |
| The 2009 Lahore attack and Pakistan’s hosting gap: the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked on 3 March 2009 near Gaddafi Stadium. Zimbabwe was the first team to tour Pakistan again, for limited-overs cricket in May 2015. Sri Lanka’s own return was T20Is and ODIs in September-October 2017, and then the first Test series to return to Pakistan, in December 2019 at Rawalpindi and Karachi, over a decade after the attack. | Corrected during review, 5 September 2026 | ESPNcricinfo |
| Cricket at Los Angeles 2028: Twenty20 format, six teams each in the men’s and women’s events, 90 athlete quotas per gender, at a temporary ground at the Pomona fairgrounds, 12-28 July 2028. Qualification, finalised in 2025, is continental (one team per Olympic continent) plus a global qualifier, with the host USA automatic; the final teams depend on ICC T20I rankings at a 2027 cut-off and are not yet known. | Verified; qualifiers not yet known | ICC |
Corrected while writing
Facts that a first draft had wrong and a review put right before the tests were published.
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The conventional sweep is played on the back knee, not the front knee. | Corrected, 4 September 2026 | Coaching material |
| An open or chest-on stance does not “open the gate”; its real cost is that straight driving and defence become harder because the shoulders are less aligned down the pitch. | Corrected, 4 September 2026 | Coaching material |
| Reverse swing needs a ball that is old and dry with one side badly scuffed, not rough on both sides. | Corrected, 4 September 2026 | ESPNcricinfo glossary |
| The England v West Indies Test trophy is the Richards-Botham Trophy (since 2020), not the Wisden Trophy. A trophy name can be renamed inside the time it takes to write and check a question, so every named trophy is checked live. | Corrected, 5 September 2026 | ESPNcricinfo |
| Sri Lanka was not “among the first” boards to resume touring Pakistan after 2009; Zimbabwe went first in 2015. The precise, checkable claim is that Sri Lanka’s December 2019 tour was the first Test series to return. | Corrected, 5 September 2026 | ESPNcricinfo |
Each fact above was checked because a question depended on it, either while writing the question or when a reviewer challenged it. The process is described in How Insporta writes a test.