In Test cricket, the final day’s play can extend well beyond the scheduled close - here's what the exact rules are.
Test cricket’s vocabulary is full of peculiarities, and the fabled ‘last hour’ is now different - it can actually last longer than an hour, and it has no set start time. So, what are the rules around when it starts, when it ends, and how many overs can be bowled on the last day of a Test match?
On the first four days of a Test match, when there’s no rain around, the situation is simple. Ish. Teams can bowl as many overs as they like within the first six hours of play, and then, if they have bowled fewer than the stipulated number of overs for the day - usually 90 - they have an extra half hour to get up to that ‘minimum’. If there are any overs unbowled at that point, those are lost from the game’s allocation.
What are the time rules on the last day of a Test?
On the last day, it’s a different story. Essentially, you have to bowl at least 90 overs, no matter what, barring any delays due to the weather or bad light, which can reduce the playing time. And, if a bowling side is so inclined, they can bowl quite a lot more than that. They can bowl as many overs as they like until the last hour of scheduled play, but if they haven’t bowled at least 75 overs in that time, the start of the last hour is delayed until they have.
Then, they can bowl as many overs as they like in the last hour, and the game only ends once they have bowled at least 15 overs from the start of the last hour onwards. So, in theory, a team could drag their feet in bowling the first 75 overs over six hours, but then race through their overs once the last hour starts, continuing to bowl even though they have exceeded the scheduled finish and the mandated minimum of overs in a day.
If there is rain, things get much, much more complicated. Appendix E of the ICC playing conditions contains a formula for calculating how many overs are lost for any given delay. It contains variables A through M. If you want to make your way through it, it’s available here.
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