How Long Do Cricket Games Last? (Unexpected Answer)

If you are watching or spectating a cricket match and you feel as if it’s been going on forever, then you aren’t the first person to feel so, and you certainly won’t be the last. Cricket matches can feel inexplicably long, but this is not always the case. I must admit that cricket matches last longer than other sports like football.

Cricket has many different game formats, with some being shorter than others. This means that there’s a game of cricket for everyone– from people with just a couple of hours to spare to people who love to sit on the sofa watching a game for days. So, with that said, how long do cricket matches last?

A test match will take 5 days. A first-class match will take 3-5 days. One-Day Internationals take 8 hours. A T20 match usually takes 2-3 hours, and a T10 match will take 1-2 hours. A 100 balls per side match will take 2.5 hours. It depends on what type of cricket is being played. 

In this article, we will discuss all that relates to how long cricket matches are played. So if this interests you in the slightest, sit back, relax and read on to find out more. This is guaranteed to be an informative article for you.

How Long Does a Cricket Game Go For?

If you aren’t quite familiar with the game of cricket, you may have the impression that matches can last for an extremely long time. While this isn’t entirely true, we aren’t going to lie; certain types of cricket matches can be considerably lengthy, more than a football or rugby match.

What is amazing about cricket is that various formats of the game have been developed over the years. These different formats offer variance in the number of balls bowled per game. The effect of this is that it can drastically increase or decrease the overall playtime.

When watching cricket with family, friends, or cricket novices, you may have faced the question of how long cricket games go. In this section, we will finally put an answer to this question.

So, how long does a game of cricket last?

Well, the answer is that it depends on the type of cricket that is being played. As we have already mentioned, a game of cricket can last for different lengths of time, depending on the format. The different formats and how long they last are as follows:

• Test match– Some famous international series like The Ashes follow this format. It has the longest match duration. These matches usually take 5 days- consisting of 8 hours of play per day with 90 overs per day.
• First-class match– These matches usually take 3-5 days with 8 hours of play per day and 90 overs.
• One-Day Internationals– ODIs take place over one day. In this format, each team has 50 overs to score as many runs as they can. This usually takes 8 hours to complete.
• T20 match– This is possibly the most popular format. T20 lets each team have 20 overs to score. These games can take around 2-3 hours to complete.
• T10 match– This format is growing in popularity and is the shortest form of professional cricket. Each time is allocated 10 batting overs, and a game can take 1-2 hours.
• The Hundred– This is a new format, and in it, each team is allocated 100 balls. Unfortunately, because of the COVID pandemic, the Hundred league hasn’t started yet, but the length of a full game has been calculated to be likely around 2.5 hours.

Remember that the numbers quoted above will only remain if both teams bat the full duration of their allocated balls. If one team is completely dominating the game, matches can finish a lot quicker. Another factor that could affect the length of a game is the weather. Rain can cause a game to delay for numerous hours, which will directly affect the overall length of a cricket game.

How Long Is the Longest Game of Cricket?

At some point in history, test cricket didn’t have a time limit. These games were played until a side won or the game ended in a draw which rarely happened. Games like this were called timeless tests. Between 1877 and 1939, 99 of these timeless tests games were played.

The longest game of cricket ever played was a timeless test, and it happened in 1939 in Durban, South Africa. South Africa and England played the match. The match began on 3^rd March, and it went on for 12 days until 14th March. So, the longest game of cricket ever played lasted for 12 days.

Even though there were 12 days of play scheduled, only 9 of those days saw any cricketing action. 2 days were allocated as rest days, which was common for timeless tests, and on one day, the play was abandoned due to rain. Although timeless tests usually never ended in a draw, this was one game that did end in a draw.

Can a Game of Cricket Last Up to 5 Days?

To answer the question, yes. A game of cricket can last up to 5 days, and such a match is usually called a Test match, as we have mentioned earlier. Test match cricket is international cricket that is played for three days or more. In the past, these matches were called Timeless tests, and they were scheduled to be played until their conclusion regardless of how long that was. Nowadays, all Test matches are scheduled for 5 days. Each day is usually split into three sessions of game with tea or lunch break between the sessions.

In Test matches, the play usually lasts for about 8 hours each day, with 90 overs per day. Every match comprises 4 innings, with both teams batting twice.

In conclusion, there are various formats of cricket matches, and each one of them lasts for a certain time. Hopefully, this article has enlightened you on how long a match of each of these cricket formats lasts.