# Match Regulations · Cricket Level 2: Elementary

Cricket · Level 2: Elementary · Insporta Book (https://book.insporta.app/cricket/level-2/match-regulations/)

Match Regulations in Cricket (Level 2: Elementary) on Insporta: 60 sourced facts behind 6 tests. Covers: powerplays in a one-day international; and more.

This sub-level teaches the regulations layered on top of the Laws for the limited-overs and championship game — the powerplays and fielding restrictions in a one-day international and in a Twenty20, the free hit and exactly what can and cannot happen off it, how a slow over rate is punished by the stop clock and by an in-match penalty, the intervals and the extra time a day can borrow, and, in outline, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method and the concussion replacement.

## Test 1: Powerplays in a one-day international

![A cricket field seen from above with the dashed 30-yard circle, the bowler at the top and a right-handed striker at the bottom. Nine fielders stand with the wicket-keeper: a slip, point, cover, mid-off, mid-on, midwicket and square leg are all inside the circle, and only third man and fine leg are outside it, back on the boundary, the most allowed in the first ten overs.](https://book.insporta.app/diagrams/cricket-odi-first-powerplay-field.svg)
*The first powerplay in a one-day international: only two fielders outside the circle.*

- Powerplay 1 covers the opening ten overs of a fifty-over innings. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- Only two fielders may be outside the thirty-yard circle in the first ten overs. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- From over 11 to over 40 up to four fielders may be outside the circle. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- In the final phase up to five fielders may be outside the circle, the most of any phase. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- Three fielders out in the first powerplay breaks the two-fielder limit, so the delivery is a no-ball. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- Two arcs thirty yards from each middle stump, joined by straight lines, form the fielding circle. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- When an innings is shortened in advance, the phase boundaries are scaled to the reduced number of overs. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- The Law's two-behind-square leg-side limit applies throughout, on top of the powerplay circle rules. (Source: MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 code (3rd edition 2022), Law 28)
- One new ball is taken from each end, and each is used for twenty-five overs of the innings. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))
- Fewer boundary riders early and late forces gaps and rewards aggressive batting. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (ODI))

## Test 2: Fielding restrictions in a Twenty20

- A T20I powerplay is the opening six overs of the twenty. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- Just two fielders may be outside the thirty-yard circle in the T20 powerplay, matching the ODI figure. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- After over six, up to five fielders may be outside the circle. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- A third fielder outside the circle during the T20 powerplay is one too many, so it is a no-ball. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- With five allowed outside, the four remaining fielders have to be inside the circle. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- The leg-side limit of two behind square is a Law and holds for every delivery of the match. (Source: MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 code (3rd edition 2022), Law 28)
- A rain-reduced T20 has its powerplay scaled down from the playing-conditions table, keeping the same rough proportion. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- The five-outside limit holds for every over after the powerplay, so a ring of nine on the rope is illegal. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- Five outside is the most allowed, not a number that must be used; a captain may keep more fielders in. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))
- A bowler is capped at four of the twenty overs; once they are gone the umpire will not let him bowl a fifth. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (T20I))

## Test 3: The free hit

- The free hit now follows every kind of no-ball, where once it was only for a foot fault. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DRS-era no-ball rules))
- Only the dismissals available off a no-ball apply on a free hit: run out, obstruction, and hit the ball twice. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- He cannot be bowled off a free hit; the ball stays live, so runs, including byes off the stumps, can be taken. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- Run out is one of the dismissals a free hit does not protect against, so a batter short of his ground is out. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- The field is frozen for the free hit; the main exception is that a new batter is on strike after a completed run. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- A no-ball or a wide on the free-hit ball means the free hit carries over to the following delivery. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- After the no-ball signal the umpire circles a raised arm to show that a free hit is coming. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- The ball is live on a free hit, so byes and leg-byes are run and scored in the normal way. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- A near-risk-free delivery on top of the extra run makes bowling a no-ball much more expensive, and deters it. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))
- The field may not be altered for a free hit unless the striker has changed ends, so an unauthorised move is undone. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (free hit))

## Test 4: Over rates and the stop clock

- An on-ground clock counts down sixty seconds from the end of one over to the first ball of the next. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock))
- The first two breaches in an innings bring warnings; every breach after that costs five penalty runs. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock))
- The third umpire operates the countdown clock that is shown on the ground. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock))
- After a trial from late 2023 it was made mandatory in all men's ODIs and T20Is from 1 June 2024. (Source: ESPNcricinfo)
- Once the two warnings are gone, each further slow over costs the fielding side five runs. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock))
- If the side is not on schedule by a set point, one more fielder must come inside the circle for the rest of the innings. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (over rates))
- WTC places are set by a percentage of points available, and teams have points docked for bowling their overs too slowly. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (World Test Championship))
- Slow field-setting is exactly the delay the clock is meant to catch; the countdown does not pause for it. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock))
- Genuine stoppages such as a wicket, an injury, DRS or drinks stop the clock; ordinary dawdling does not. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (stop clock))
- Trials showed roughly twenty minutes an ODI were being lost between overs, and the clock was meant to claw that back. (Source: ESPNcricinfo)

## Test 5: Intervals and lost time

- Lunch is usually forty minutes and tea twenty, though the playing conditions can adjust them. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals))
- One brief drinks break is scheduled per session, with extras only by agreement in extreme heat. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals))
- An interval is taken at the fall of the last wicket, or a declaration, if that comes within a short window of the scheduled time. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals))
- The umpires may extend the day by up to half an hour where they judge it could bring a result. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play))
- At least fifteen overs must be bowled in the last hour, with time added if the over rate is slow. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play))
- Lost overs are recovered by starting earlier or finishing later on the following days, up to the daily limits. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play))
- The innings break in an ODI is typically thirty to forty-five minutes, and shorter in a T20. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals))
- A brief stoppage that does not eat into scheduled time costs nothing; overs are lost only when time genuinely runs out. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (hours of play))
- The umpires may rearrange the intervals, for example taking tea during a stoppage, to make the best use of the time. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (intervals))
- Overs short of the ninety are made up on later days, and a persistent slow rate brings match-referee sanctions on the captain. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (over rates))

## Test 6: Duckworth-Lewis-Stern and concussion replacements

- DLS produces a revised target, or a par score, when overs are lost to rain in a one-day match. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))
- The method treats an innings as the overs still to be bowled and the wickets still standing. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))
- At any interruption DLS gives a par score, and the side is ahead or behind by how its total compares. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))
- Finishing above the DLS par score means the chasing side has won the rain-shortened match. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))
- At least twenty overs a side must be possible in an ODI (five in a T20) for a DLS result to count. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))
- A T20 needs at least five overs a side; below that the match is a no-result. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))
- A concussion replacement is a full like-for-like replacement who takes over the injured player's role entirely. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (concussion replacements))
- The match referee approves the replacement and normally expects a like-for-like player. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (concussion replacements))
- The replacement should match the injured player's role, so a clear upgrade may be blocked or restricted. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (concussion replacements))
- Without the minimum twenty overs for the chasing side there can be no DLS result, so the game is a no-result. (Source: ICC Playing Conditions (DLS))

Sources: MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 code (3rd edition 2022) for the Laws themselves; ICC Playing Conditions per format for the officiating and regulation detail that overrides the Laws in international cricket (DRS, powerplays, over rates, concussion replacements, the free hit); ESPNcricinfo for recent changes such as the soft-signal retirement. Questions are authored from these sources, not reproduced from them.

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