Consequences of playing Cricket

If the team that bats last is all out having scored fewer runs than their challenger, the team is said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the numbers of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall. For occurrence a team that exceeds its opponents' score having only lost six wickets would have won "by four wickets".

In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater results is then said to have triumph by an innings and n runs, and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' cumulative scores.

If the team batting last is all out, and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a bind; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side. In the customary outward appearance of the fixture, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.

If the match has only a single innings per side, then a maximum number of deliveries for each innings are often obligatory. Such a match is called a "limited over" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins in spite of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth-Lewis method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a formerly agreed number of over have been bowled by either team, in conditions that make standard recommencement of play impracticable; for example, wet weather.