OT. Ping the cricketisti

Why do teams declare? Do they have to give the opposition a chance to
win? It strikes me as being a risky policy so can someone enlighten
me?

 

It's to give the other team the chance to lose.

If you get to the end of the time without all the innings being played
then it's a draw.

HTH

 

Wikipedia sums the nuances of declaring, nicely.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_and_forfeiture#Declaration>

There are times when declaring early is desirable but not in test match
situations.

 

They declare when they're in a potential winning position. Or at least
a non-losing position.

Assuming this post is triggered by the situation in the first test,
England had 3 hours in which to bowl Australia out. It was possible,
if not probable, and then they would have won the match. Continuing to
bat could only ever result in a draw.

 

Roughly speaking,

First innings: team A bats, ends when team B bowls A out

Second innings: team B bats, ends when team A bowls B out

Third innings: team A bats, ends when team B bowls A out or A declares.
If team A fails to get as many runs in total as B did in the second
innings, B wins by an innings.

Fourth innings: team B bats, ends when team A bowls B out or they run
out of time. If team B gets more runs in total than A, then B wins by x
wickets. If team A bowls B out before that happens, then A wins by x
runs. If neither happens, it's a draw. Team A has to allow enough time
to be able to bowl B out, which is why they declare - if the third
innings lasts til the end of the match (because B can't bowl A out) then
the best either side can hope for is a draw. And they want to win.

Or, last night, team A knows it's going to be a draw but declares to rub
in the fact that B can't possibly get enough runs to catch up whatever
they do. Ho ho ho.

 

OK Ta. I understand enough now.

 

snip>

We could have declared earlier and given them some encouragement to go
for it but we only need draws to retain the Ashes so **** giving them
even a sniff of a chance.

The convicts must be seriously demoralised after bowling for nearly 2
days and only getting one wicket and to make matters worse it wasn't
even one of their full time bowlers who took that wicket.

 

In the olden days, teams used to have to contirve ways of getting "all
out" in an attempt to get time to force a result. the ability to
declare the innings closed removed this peculiarity.

Also, the declaration gives a side the option of placing *all* of the
blame on the captain when they get beaten, rather than the normal 99%.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Salad Dodger

Except, of course, when Pakistan are playing.