Understanding Overs and Wickets

Overs measure how much bowling has happened. Wickets measure how many batters are out. Together they describe the state of any innings.

What an over is

An over is six legal deliveries bowled from one end. After each over the umpires switch ends and a different bowler takes over. No bowler may bowl two overs in a row.

Wides and no balls do not count towards the six, so an over with extras contains more than six deliveries.

How overs are written

Overs are written with a decimal point that counts balls, not tenths. 12.3 overs means twelve completed overs and three balls, so 75 deliveries in total. This is why 12.6 never appears — that is 13 overs.

Ways to be out

• Bowled — the ball hits the stumps.
• Caught — a fielder catches the ball off the bat before it bounces.
• Leg before wicket — the ball would have hit the stumps but struck the batter first.
• Run out — the stumps are broken while the batter is short of the crease.
• Stumped — the keeper breaks the stumps while the batter is out of the crease.

When an innings ends

An innings ends when ten wickets fall, when the allotted overs run out, or when the batting captain declares. Ten wickets end it because the last batter has no partner left.