# Test Cricket Explained: Five Days and Two Innings

Source: https://cricketin.org/guides/test-cricket-explained

[By Anjali Deshmukh](/authors/cricket-analyst), Cricket Analyst. [Reviewed by Rajeev Sathe](/authors/editor-in-chief), Editor-in-Chief. Updated 1 Sep 2026. Editorial policy: https://cricketin.org/editorial-policy

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How Test cricket works: six hours and 90 overs a day, the 80-over new ball, declarations, the follow-on, why draws happen and how WTC points are counted.

A Test match is scheduled for five days, and each side bats twice. There is no over limit for an innings. Instead the conditions limit time: six hours a day, with a minimum of 90 overs.

This page covers the day structure, the new ball after 80 overs, declarations and the follow-on, why a draw is a normal result, the stop clock and how World Test Championship points work.

## Five days, two innings, and a clock instead of an over limit

A Test is scheduled for five days. Each side bats twice. No innings has an over limit.

What is limited is time. The [ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions](https://images.icc-cricket.com/image/upload/prd/lm8owaz03i86m1eneb7m.pdf), effective June 2025, set six hours of scheduled play a day. The home board fixes the exact hours.

There is still an over target. Umpires must get through a minimum of 90 overs a day, or 15 overs an hour, whichever ends later. Up to 30 minutes of overtime is allowed to do it.

One rule catches people out. Overs not bowled on one day are not added to a later day. A slow day is simply lost cricket.

Five days at 90 overs is 450 overs of scheduled cricket. That is nine ODIs' worth of bowling in one match. It explains why Tests are a fitness test as much as a skill test.

## How a day is shaped

A day splits into three sessions, broken by lunch and tea. The exact times vary by country and by start time.

The last day works differently. At least 75 overs must be bowled before the last hour begins. The last hour itself must contain at least 15 overs.

Time lost in that last hour is converted into overs. One over comes off the minimum for each complete four minutes lost. That stops a side from stalling to save a draw.

An innings change costs a little time too. When an innings ends mid-day outside an interval, two overs come off the day's minimum.

**Table 1. Time and over rules in a Test**

| Rule | What the conditions require |
|---|---|
| Scheduled play | Six hours a day, hours set by the home board |
| Daily over minimum | 90 overs, or 15 an hour, or the scheduled close, whichever is later |
| Permitted overtime | Up to 30 minutes to complete the minimum |
| Overs not bowled | Not made up on a later day |
| Last day | At least 75 overs before the last hour |
| Last hour | At least 15 overs; one over deducted per complete four minutes lost |
| Innings change mid-day | Two overs come off the day's minimum |

## The new ball, and the 80-over rule

Each innings starts with a new ball. After that the fielding captain can ask for another one.

The trigger is 80 complete overs bowled with the old ball. From that point the captain may demand a new ball at any time. The same 80-over rule appears in [Law 4 of the MCC Laws](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/the-ball) for any match longer than one day.

Timing is a real tactical choice. A hard new ball bounces and swings, which suits fast bowlers. An old, rough ball grips for spinners and can reverse swing. A captain with a tiring attack may wait.

There is one more provision. If the ball has to be replaced after 110 overs of use, it is replaced with a new ball rather than a worn one.

We do not describe the ball as red here, and that is deliberate. The Test playing conditions do not set ball colour or clothing colour at all. What we still need: Ball and clothing colour for Test cricket against the separate ICC Clothing and Equipment Regulations, which the playing conditions refer to but which we did not open.

## Declaration and the follow-on

Two tools exist only in the two-innings game. Both let a captain manage time.

A declaration ends the batting side's innings early. [Law 15](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/declaration-and-forfeiture) allows it whenever the ball is dead, and the ICC conditions repeat that. A declared innings counts as a completed innings.

Once the captain has told the umpires and the other captain, he cannot take it back. The same is true of a forfeiture, which is giving up an innings before it starts.

The follow-on is the other tool. In a match of five days or more, a side that bats first and leads by at least 200 runs can make the other side bat again immediately. [Law 14](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/the-follow-on) sets lower thresholds for shorter matches: 150 runs over three or four days, 100 over two days and 75 in one.

If no play happens on the first day, the threshold drops to match the days left. So a washed-out first day turns a 200-run trigger into a 150-run trigger.

**Table 2. Follow-on thresholds by match length**

| Scheduled length | First-innings lead needed |
|---|---|
| Five days or more | 200 runs |
| Three or four days | 150 runs |
| Two days | 100 runs |
| One day | 75 runs |

## Why a draw is a normal result, not a failure

New fans often ask how five days can end with nobody winning. The answer is in the structure.

To win, a side must bowl the other out twice and score more runs across two completed innings. That is a lot of work in 450 overs. [Law 16](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/the-result) requires the winning side to pass the total of two completed innings.

If the fifth day ends without that happening, the match is drawn. It is not a tie. A tie needs the scores to be exactly level with the last innings completed, which is why it has happened only twice in Test history.

Rain also makes draws. Two lost days can remove any chance of twenty wickets, so both sides simply bat.

A draw can be a great contest. A side four wickets down with an hour left, blocking for the draw, is one of cricket's tensest scenes. Nothing about it is a failure of the format.

A draw also creates tactics that no short format has. A captain declares to buy bowling time. A batter shuts up shop to burn overs. Both are playing for a result the short game cannot offer.

The other formats have no draw at all. They use a tie, a Super Over, or a No Result instead. Our [formats comparison](/guides/cricket-formats-explained) lays the possible outcomes side by side.

## What "all out" really means

An innings ends in more ways than ten wickets falling. [Law 13](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/innings) lists them.

A side is done if it is all out, if no further batter is available, if the captain declares, if the captain forfeits, or if a set number of overs or a set time has run out.

The last item does not apply to a Test innings, because no over limit exists. The others all do.

The toss is worth a line as well. It happens no earlier than 30 minutes and no later than 15 minutes before the scheduled start. Once the winning captain says bat or bowl, that decision is final.

## Reviews in the long game

Test teams get more reviews than short-format teams. Each side may have three Player Reviews recorded as unsuccessful per innings.

Reviews that overturn a decision do not count. Nor do lbw reviews that end in umpire's call.

One popular belief needs correcting. The paragraph we read does not say the allowance is topped up after 80 overs. We found no such reset in the June 2025 conditions.

The full review procedure sits on our [DRS page](/guides/how-drs-works), including what the third umpire may and may not look at.

## The stop clock, and what slow play now costs

Slow play used to cost only fines and points. Tests now run on a clock.

The fielding side must start the next over within 60 seconds of the previous one ending. After two warnings, every further breach in that innings costs five penalty runs. Warnings reset after each block of 80 overs. The [ICC announced this change](https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/several-changes-made-to-icc-playing-conditions) alongside other 2025 amendments.

Five runs is a real punishment in a low-scoring Test. It also speeds up the game for spectators, which was the point.

## How the World Test Championship counts a draw

The World Test Championship gives the long game a league. It runs across two years and every Test in the cycle counts.

The [ICC standings page](https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/world-test-championship/standings) gives the points: 12 for a win, six for a tie and four for a draw. Teams are ranked by the percentage of available points they have won, not by raw points. The leading two teams play the final.

The percentage matters because sides play different numbers of matches. A team that has played six Tests can finish above a team that has played thirteen.

**How the percentage is worked out.**

Inputs, read from the ICC standings on 10 August 2026 for the 2025 to 2027 cycle: Australia had 84 points from eight matches. India had 52 points from nine matches.

Formula: points available = matches played times 12. Percentage of points won = points won divided by points available, times 100.

Australia: 8 times 12 = 96 available. 84 divided by 96 = 87.50%. India: 9 times 12 = 108 available. 52 divided by 108 = 48.15%.

Assumptions: every Test carries 12 available points, and the figures already include any deductions. England, for example, was shown with 14 points deducted and a percentage of 24.36%.

Deductions come mostly from slow over rates. The standings page confirms points are docked for that but gives no rate. What we still need: The exact WTC over-rate deduction, in points per over short, from the ICC playing conditions or WTC regulations.

You can see the effect of the draw points here. Four points from a draw is a third of a win, so a hard-fought draw away from home is genuinely useful.

## What five days asks of players

A fast bowler may bowl 25 overs in a day, then do it again 24 hours later. No short format asks that.

Batting changes too. Leaving the ball outside off stump is a skill in a Test and a waste of a ball in a T20.

The pitch becomes a character in the story. It cracks, dries and starts to turn, so day five rarely plays like day one. Our [guide to pitch conditions](/guides/how-pitch-conditions-work) explains that wear.

Rolling is even part of the Laws. The batting captain may ask for up to seven minutes of rolling before each innings other than the first, and before each new day.

For the shorter formats, see our [50-over rules page](/guides/odi-rules-explained) and our [T20 rules page](/guides/t20-rules-explained).

## How we checked this page

Every figure here was read from the ICC Test playing conditions, the MCC Laws or an ICC announcement in August 2026. None came from memory.

Where a document did not answer a question, we said so rather than guessing. Ball colour and the over-rate deduction are the two open items above.

Our [verification method](/how-we-test) sets out that rule. Fixes are logged on the [corrections page](/corrections), and the full library is on the [guides hub](/guides).

## Questions people ask

### How many overs are bowled in a full Test match?

Around 450 are scheduled, from a minimum of 90 overs across five days. The real number is usually lower, because overs lost on one day are not made up later.

### When can a captain take the second new ball?

Once 80 complete overs have been bowled with the old ball. From then on the fielding captain may demand a new ball whenever he likes, under the [ICC Test playing conditions](https://images.icc-cricket.com/image/upload/prd/lm8owaz03i86m1eneb7m.pdf).

### What is the difference between a draw and a tie in a Test?

A draw means the match ran out of time without a side passing the other's two-innings total. A tie means the final innings was completed with the scores exactly level. Ties are almost unheard of; draws are common.

### Does a captain have to enforce the follow-on?

No. A 200-run first-innings lead in a five-day match gives the captain the option, not the duty. [Law 14](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/the-follow-on) calls it an option, and captains often decline it to rest bowlers.

### Do Test teams get their reviews back after 80 overs?

Not according to the June 2025 conditions we read. Each side has three unsuccessful Player Reviews per innings, and we found no paragraph resetting that count after 80 overs.

### How are World Test Championship teams ranked?

By the percentage of available points won, not by total points. A win is 12 points, a tie six and a draw four, as listed on the [ICC standings page](https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/world-test-championship/standings).

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