@mrmhead Said
So when they say a Cricket match can last days, what is the break point?
Obviously they don't play 72 hours straight.
Are there timed periods?
Is it based on some event in the game (outs, score, team rotation) ?
There are three formats to the game at international level.
Test Cricket is the highest and most challenging form of the game. Played over five days, each day's play is broken down into three sessions of two hours each. Therefore 6 hours per day over five days = 30 hours of play (with variations I won't go into here and complicate the issue)
Each team will have two innings. There are 11 players per team and the batting team must have two batsmen 'in' at all times. When 10 batsmen are given 'out' by the umpire the innings is closed (completed) and the remaining batsman is 'not out' in the scorebook (which will affect his personal batting average, but again, too complicated for now).
There is no restriction placed on fielding positions or the number of overs that can be bowled by any one bowler.
After each team has had two completed innings, the team with the most runs is the winner. If both teams have not had two completed innings by the end of the five days play, the match is declared a draw regardless of who has the most runs.
If the scores are level after two completed innings the match is declared a tie. This is extremely rare
There is no tie-breaker in test cricket.
Basically, one team has to bowl the other out twice and score more runs than them to win. It is a very tough ask.
One Day International (ODI) Played in single day with only one innings per team. Each team is allocated 50 overs (an over is six fair deliveries of the ball) and must score as many runs as possible in that time. Their opponents will then have 50 overs in which to beat their opponents score. The team with the most runs wins.
Unlike test cricket, every bowler in the bowling team can only bowl a maximum of ten overs each and the captain of the fielding team has restrictions placed on where his fieldsmen can be positioned. This is to encourage attacking cricket and high scoring.
If the batting team is bowled out within their 50 overs (say, after 45 overs) their innings is closed, but the team batting second will still have 50 overs to try to beat that score.
Twenty 20 Cricket (T20) The same as ODI, but each team is limited to 20 overs only. Bowlers are restricted to four overs each.
Now.... if you don't understand after that, allow me to give the traditional answer to Americans who want to know how cricket is played:
You have two sides, one team is in and the other is out.
Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
When 10 batsmen are out the team is all out except the last man remaining who is not out.
Then the team that was out comes in and the team that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and out twice, the team with the most runs wins.