Intervals (Law 11)
Index


LAW 11 and LAW 12 CHANGES

The changes to these Laws are described together as they are linked

The previous Laws allowed play to continue for up to half an hour when 9 wickets were down at the time for the tea interval; also if a wicket fell within 2 minutes of an interval, the interval would be taken immediately

It was felt that the principle of 9 wickets down should apply to the lunch interval as well and so this change is made in Law 11.7

The time in Law 12.5, when an interval is taken before the agreed time, is extended from 2 minutes to 3 minutes, to be consistent with the Timed out Law (a new batter has 3 minutes to be ready to face the next delivery) and in an attempt to save playing time

The agreements made at the toss about the intervals have been moved to Law 2.3

The title of Law 11.3 has been changed to “Allowance for interval between innings” and there is no longer a need to cross-refer to the Law about there being insufficient time to complete rolling. This is because, if a captain declares the innings closed less than 10 minutes from the end of an interval or interruption, it is clarified that the next innings will commence 10 minutes later. This does away with the need for an extra allowance for rolling and stops a captain attempting to rush the opposition into getting ready to bat at the end of an interval

Law 12.6 concerns the last hour of the match and the number of overs to be bowled

There is currently confusion in this area, even though it is rare for sides to bowl more than twenty overs in an hour. Assuming the close of play is 7.00pm, and the last hour is not called until 6.05pm, it is now clarified that, for additional overs to the minimum 20 to be bowled, the 20 overs must be completed by 7.00pm, not 7.05pm, and the scheduled close of play remains 7pm or once the minimum 20 overs have been bowled, whichever is later.