Over (cricket)

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In the sport of cricket an over is a series of six consecutive balls bowled by a single bowler. No bowler is allowed to bowl more than one consecutive over. In one-day cricket bowlers are restricted to the total number of overs they may bowl in a match and the length of the game is determined by the total number of overs bowled (usually 40 or 50). In test and county cricket teams are usually required to bowl a minimum number of overs per day to prevent spoiling of the game by a slow over rate.

Each consecutive over is bowled from the opposite end of the pitch ensuring that both batsmen face the bowling.

A maiden over is one in which no runs are scored.

For most of cricket's history the number of balls in an over was not standardised with 6 and 8 being the most common, currently the world wide standard is 6 balls.