In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture is covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket. For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... An innings, or inning, is a segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably baseball and cricket – during which a side takes its turn to bat. ... The laws of cricket are a set of rules framed by the Marylebone Cricket Club which serve to standardise the format of cricket matches across the world to ensure uniformity and fairness. ...

Declaration

The captain of the batting side may declare an innings closed, when the ball is dead, at any time during a match. Usually this is because the captain thinks his team has already scored enough runs to win the match, though tactical declarations are sometimes used in other circumstances. A captain considering declaration must balance the risks of declaring too early (thus setting too low a target for the opposing team) against those of declaring too late or not at all (thus causing a draw by leaving insufficient time to complete the match). In the sport of cricket, a dead ball is a particular state of play in which the players may not perform any of the active aspects of the game. ...

The first captain to declare was Charles Wright in 1890. In a game against Kent at the Bat and Ball Ground in Gravesend, Wright declared Nottinghamshire's second innings closed on 157 for 5 to set Kent a target of 231 to win. However, the tactic did not come off as the game was drawn with Kent on 98 for 9 and Nottinghamshire requiring one more wicket to win. Charles William Wright (born 27 May 1863 in Harewood, Yorkshire, England; died 10 January 1936 in Saxelby Park, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University between 1882 and 1885 and for Nottinghamshire between 1882 and 1899. ... The 1890 English cricket season was the first year the County Championship was officially held, which Surrey won after winning nine out of fourteen games, and the English cricket team, captained by WG Grace, won the Ashes series 2–0 with a third Test match abandoned. ... Kent County Cricket Club is an English county cricket club based at Canterbury, Kent. ... Gravesend can refer to: Gravesend, Kent, England Gravesend, New York, USA This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Radcliffe Road stand at Nottinghamshires home ground, Trent Bridge. ...

Forfeiture

Under the current Laws, a captain may forfeit either of his side's innings. A forfeited innings shall be considered as a completed innings. Usually this happens in shorter competitive two-innings matches, where captains need to agree with each other how to set up the match so that there is a reasonable chance of a result. Winning a game gains a team considerably more points than drawing it, so captains are often willing to risk giving the opposition an opportunity to win that they otherwise would not have had as long as they are getting a similar opportunity in return.

Only one innings has been forfeited in Test match cricket. This was on 18 January 2000 at Centurion, South Africa in the fifth and final Test in a series between South Africa and England, which South Africa had already won as they were 2-0 up after the first four matches. After South Africa scored 155 for 6 on the first day, rain washed out the next three days. With only one day remaining, the match was set for a certain draw. For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

That was until Hansie Cronje, the South African captain, entered into a deal with his English counterpart, Nasser Hussain, that South Africa would continue batting till they reached about 250 and then declare. England and then South Africa would then both forfeit an innings, leaving England approximately 250 to win (in the event the target was 249). At that time, the laws did not permit a side batting first to forfeit an innings, so England's first innings was treated as having been declared at 0 for 0 after 0 balls. England went on to score 251 for 8 and win by 2 wickets. Many of the South African team criticised Cronje at the time for setting too low a target, and later it was discovered that Hansie Cronje had been bribed to come to this arrangement with Hussain, who was completely unaware of this bribery. Wessel Johannes Hansie Cronje (September 25, 1969 - June 1, 2002) was a South African cricketer (all-rounder) and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s. ... Nasser Hussain (born March 28, 1968, Madras), Essex and England cricketer. ...

References

• Law 14 of the Laws of Cricket

External links

• Scorecard of the game in which Wright became the first captain to declare an innings closed
• Cricinfo page on Charles Wright
• Scorecard of 2000 RSA vs ENG Centurion Match in which Cronje & Hussein forfeited innings