An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably baseball and cricket –
during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term
innings is both singular and plural and is always spelled and pronounced with the terminal "s". In baseball, the singular
form is inning and only the plural takes an "s".
In many other sports, the length of the game is dictated by a clock and teams swap offensive and defensive roles dynamically
by taking possession of a ball or similar item. In baseball and cricket, however, one team, said to be "batting", attempts to
score "runs"—see run (baseball) and run
(cricket)—while the other team, said to be "fielding", attempts to prevent the scoring of runs and get members of the
batting team out. The teams switch places after the fielding team has succeeded in getting a fixed number of players out,
making a clock unnecessary.
In cricket, the term innings is also used to refer to the play of one particular player (Smith had a poor innings,
scoring only 12). By extension, this term can be used in British English for almost
any activity which takes a period of time (The Liberal government had a good innings, but finally lost office in 1972, or
You've had a fair innings, now it's my turn, meaning "you have spoken for long enough, now let me speak"). It is also used
in reference to someone who has died at a reasonably old age or lived a rich and rewarding life (Ah, well. John was 83. At
least he had a good innings.). The baseball-derived parallel to this in American English is the term at bat.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term innings has
been used in reference to cricket since at least 1735. As cricket was a mature, highly organized sport in the 1600's in England,
the term's origin could well precede this first recorded usage. The word inning meaning 'a gathering in' is first recorded
in 1522, and could be related.
Cricket
In cricket, a team's innings usually lasts until 10 of the 11 batsmen in the team are
out, leaving the not out batsman without a partner and thus unable to continue, or until another event intervenes
(such as the captain of the team declaring the innings closed for tactical
reasons; or the time allotted for the entire game expiring).
In First-class cricket and Test cricket,
each side has two innings. In one-day cricket and other abbreviated forms of the game, an innings lasts only for a set period or for a certain number of
overs (typically 50). Note that "an innings" can mean either a particular side's innings
(Sri Lanka made 464 in the third innings (of the game)) or that of both sides (England had the better of the first
innings, outscoring Australia by 104), the difference being understood by context.
An individual innings usually lasts until the batsman is given out, or until the end of the team innings. Although batsmen bat
together in pairs, this combination is never called an innings: it is a partnership or a stand.
See also
Baseball
An inning in baseball consists of two halves. In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team playing defense. Each half-inning formally starts when the umpire
calls "Batter up!" A full inning consists of six outs, three for each team; and a regulation game consists of nine innings. The
visiting team always bats first in each inning, and the visitors' turn at bat is often called the top of the
inning, derived from the position of the visiting team at the top line of a baseball line
score. The home team's half of an inning is also called the bottom of the inning, and the break between
halves of an inning is called the middle of the inning. If the home team is leading in the middle of the ninth
inning, or scores to take the lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, the game immediately ends in a home victory. Ending a
half-inning is referred to as "retiring the side." A half-inning in which all batters are put out without taking a base is
referred to as a "one-two-three inning."
If the score is tied after 9 innings, the game goes into extra innings until an inning
ends with one team ahead of the other. In Japanese baseball, however, games end if
tied after 12 innings. As in the case of the ninth inning, a home team which scores to take a lead in any extra inning
automatically wins, and the inning (and the game) is considered complete at that moment regardless of the number of outs. This is
commonly referred to as a "walk-off" situation, since the last play results in the teams walking off the field because the game
is over.
In US English, this baseball-originated terminology is sometimes found in non-sports
usage in a tense situation: "it's the bottom of the ninth with the home team behind," meaning "there isn't much time to turn
things around here."
See also
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
