The below guide has been written for captains, scorers and club administrators in YPLN Division 1 and below. Please email any questions on it to assistant@yplncricket.co.uk 

 

The exact rules can be found in the "League Rules & Regulations" which are available here. 

 

In Division 1 and below, captains have to agree at the toss whether the DLS or run rate methods are going to be used in the event of rain interruptions after the game starts. DLS is covered in a separate guide, which can be found here. The rest of this guide assumes that the captains have chosen not to use DLS. 

 

An important thing to note is that, unlike with DLS, the “run rate” calculation is only needed if team batting second has the opportunity of batting for fewer overs than the team batting first. For example, if run rate is being used, and a rain delay in the first innings means that both innings are reduced to 30 overs, then you don’t need to do any calculations – the team batting second just needs to get one more run than the team batting first in order to win, as normal. 

 

However, if the number of scheduled overs in the second innings is reduced to a lower number than the number of overs that the first innings was scheduled for, then run rate comes into play. A target score will be calculated for the team batting second to win the match by multiplying the revised total number of overs in the second innings by the average number of runs per over scored by the team batting first, and then rounding up to the next highest whole number. (Note: if a team is dismissed in fewer overs than the maximum that they were allowed, that maximum number will be used in this calculation). If this calculation leads to a whole number without rounding up, then 1 run should be added to determine the target winning score. 

 

Example 1 

• Rain means that both innings are reduced to 30 overs. The team batting first scores 140 

• No calculation is needed as both innings are the same length – the team batting second need to reach 141 to win (140 would be a tie). Note that it doesn’t matter if either team is bowled out before they use their 30 overs – they had the opportunity to bat for the same number of overs as each other. 

 

Example 2 

• 1st innings total is 180 in 45 overs (no overs lost due to rain), so the run rate for that innings is 180/45 = 4 

• 2nd innings is cut short by rain after 30 overs, with no further play possible, so the target score for the 2nd innings is revised to 30 x 4 = 120 plus 1 (because 120 is a whole number) = 121 to win the game (a score of 120 would be a tie, anything less would be a loss). 

 

Example 3 

• 1st innings is reduced to 30 overs due to rain, and the team batting first score 125, so the run rate for that innings is 125/30 = 4.167 

• 2nd innings is initially also due to be 30 overs, but is then cut short to 20 overs by further rain, so the target score to win the game is calculated as 20 x 4.167 = 83.34, and because this isn’t a whole number we round up to 84 to win the game (83 would be a tie). 

 

You always use the exact partial over when calculating run rate targets. The decimal places when doing the calculations get a bit annoying (it would be better if there were 10 balls in an over!) as you can see below (using 30 and a bit overs as an example) 

• 30 overs and 1 ball bowled = 30.16 is used when calculating the run rate target 

• 30 overs and 2 balls bowled = 30.33 is used when calculating the run rate target 

• 30 overs and 3 balls bowled = 30.50 is used when calculating the run rate target 

• 30 overs and 4 balls bowled = 30.66 is used when calculating the run rate target 

• 30 overs and 5 balls bowled = 30.83 is used when calculating the run rate target 

 

Example 4 

• 1st innings total is 180 in 45 overs (no interruptions for rain), so the run rate for that innings is 180/45 = 4 

• 2nd innings is cut short by rain after 30 overs and one ball, so the target score for the 2nd innings is revised to 30.16 x 4 = 120.64, rounded up to 121 to win the game. If the team only scores 120 it would be a tie (even though 120 is less than 120.64) as the score for a tie is always one less than the target score for a win. 

 

In a league match, for there to be a result, both teams must have the opportunity to bat for 20 overs (it’s usually 5 overs in a cup match, but check the regs). As mentioned above, it doesn’t matter if they get bowled out in fewer than 20 overs – as long as both teams could have batted for 20 overs or more, there’s a result. However, once a rain delay means that the length of an innings in a league match is reduced to fewer than 20 overs the game is abandoned (for how to calculate over reductions due to rain, see the League Rules document linked above). 

 

Losing teams can get bonus points for reaching certain targets in the second innings. If they are batting second then they get 2 bonus points for reaching 75% of the first innings total, and 4 points for reaching 90% of the first innings total. If the second innings is cut short due to rain (etc), and DLS isn’t being used, then these percentages are based on the revised target score. If the 75% or 90% targets are not whole numbers, you round up to the next whole number. 

 

Example 5 

• 1st innings total is 180 in 45 overs (no interruptions for rain), so the run rate for that innings is 180/45 = 4 

• 2nd innings is cut short by rain after 30 overs, so the target score for the 2nd innings is revised to 30 x 4 = 120 plus 1 (because 120 is a whole number) = 121 to win the game 

• The team batting second need to score 91 (75% of 121 after rounding up) to get 2 bonus points, and 109 (90% of 120 after rounding up) to get 4 bonus points. 

 

The scorers need to put the Revised Target (the score required to win the game) for the second innings into the appropriate box in Play Cricket (see image below). If they don’t do so then the administrator for the home team can do this after the match. This will then generate the correct result and bonus points for the match.