Test cricket
The long game, as it's really played: two innings a side over five days. Win it, lose it, or bat out the last day for a draw.
The match
- Five days of 90 overs, each in three sessions: morning, afternoon and evening.
- Declare when you have enough. Lead by 200 and you can make the other side follow on.
- Bowl a side out twice for fewer runs and you win, by an innings if you didn't need to bat again. Run out of time and it's a draw.
- Whites, with the side's colour on the cap and the player's name and number on the back.
The ball and the pitch
- A red ball by day, a pink one under lights. The red ball swings and seams more than a white one.
- The ball gets older and softer. A new one comes after 80 overs, and the quicks get a second go.
- The pitch wears over five days. Spinners find rough outside the batter's stumps, and the bounce gets harder to trust.
- Each ground plays its own way. See the grounds and how pitches play.
All five days, or the key spells
A full Test takes many hours, and you can save and come back. Or play it in Phases: the new ball, a middle spell and the second new ball in each innings, with the rest simulated ball by ball. A Test in Phases takes about two hours.
Where you'll play them
- Quick match: any two nations, at any ground.
- Test series in world events and tours.
- My Career: first-class cricket for your region, and Test caps if you earn them.
- Match Day: when your country plays a real Test, so can you.
Tests come with the Edition Pass.