Skip to content

The Follow-On Rule in Cricket: When a Side Must Bat Again

The follow-on under Law 14: the 200-run lead in five-day Tests, 150 in three- or four-day games, how captains decide, and the four Tests won after following on.

By Published 3 min read

Reign Creative LLC makes Cricket Sport Career Simulator, which this article links to, so we have a commercial interest in it. How we write and check articles.

AI-assisted article. Drafted with AI tools from the sources cited below and checked by automated tests and an AI editorial review. No person has reviewed it yet. How we write and check articles.

Key takeaways

  • In a two-innings match, the side batting first can make the other side bat again straight away if it leads by enough on first innings.
  • The minimum lead is 200 runs in a match of five days or more, 150 in three or four days, 100 in two days and 75 in one day.
  • The option belongs to the captain of the side that batted first; once announced, the decision cannot be changed.
  • Captains weigh the score, the strength of the sides, the weather, the pitch and the time left; enforcing is an option, never an obligation.
  • Only four Tests have been won by the side following on, most recently New Zealand's one-run win over England in 2023.

Normally the two sides in a Test take turns: A bats, B bats, A bats again, B bats again. The follow-on breaks that order. If the side batting second falls far enough behind on first innings, the captain of the side that batted first can send them straight back in. It is set out in Law 14 of the Laws of Cricket, in MCC's 2026 edition, and Wikipedia explains its purpose: to reduce the chance of a draw by letting the stronger side finish the match sooner.

The minimum leads

Law 14 sets the lead needed by the length of the match:

Match length Minimum first-innings lead
5 days or more 200 runs
3 or 4 days 150 runs
2 days 100 runs
1 day 75 runs

The ICC's October 2026 Test playing conditions use the same 200-run figure for five-day Tests, and its four-day Test conditions use 150.

Two procedural points matter. The captain must tell the opposing captain and the umpires, and once notified, the decision cannot be changed. And if no play is possible on the first day, Law 14 counts the match length from the day play actually starts: a five-day Test that loses its first day is treated as a four-day match, so 150 runs is enough.

A worked example

Side A makes 450 in its first innings. Side B replies with 230.

  • Lead: 450 − 230 = 220 runs, at least 200, so A's captain may enforce the follow-on.
  • If enforced, B bats again immediately. If B makes 300 second time round, its two innings total 530, so A needs 81 to win: 530 − 450 + 1.
  • If declined, A bats again, extends its lead and chooses when to declare, leaving B to bat last.

Why a captain may decline

Wikipedia lists what a captain weighs: the score, the apparent strength of the two sides, the weather, the pitch and the time remaining. Its discussion of the choice comes down to three questions:

  1. Are my bowlers fresh? Enforcing means bowling two innings back to back, which Wikipedia calls tiring.
  2. Will the second innings be harder? Wikipedia notes it can be more difficult to dismiss a team in their second innings than in their first.
  3. What about the draw? Preventing a draw is the main reason to enforce: Wikipedia explains that a side batting last can bat cautiously to use up time, and the follow-on makes that harder. Declining lowers the leading side's risk of losing, but raises the chance of a draw.

Wikipedia's article shows both choices working in one series, India's 2017 tour of Sri Lanka:

Test India's choice Scores Result
First Captain Virat Kohli declined the follow-on India batted again before bowling Sri Lanka out India won by 304 runs
Second Follow-on enforced India 622/9 declared; Sri Lanka 183 and 386 India won by an innings and 53 runs

The innings margin is simple arithmetic: Sri Lanka's two innings made 183 + 386 = 569, which is 53 short of India's single innings of 622, so India never needed to bat again.

The four Tests won after following on

Wikipedia records only four Tests won by the side following on:

Test Winner following on Margin
Sydney, 1894–95 England v Australia 10 runs
Headingley, 1981 England v Australia 18 runs
Kolkata (Eden Gardens), 2001 India v Australia 171 runs
Wellington, 2023 New Zealand v England 1 run

At Headingley, England's second innings left Australia needing 130, and Bob Willis's 8 for 43 bowled them out for 111. At Kolkata, Australia, unbeaten in their previous 16 Tests, made 445 and bowled India out for 171. Following on, India made 657 for 7, built on V. V. S. Laxman's 281 and Rahul Dravid's 180, then bowled Australia out for 212.

Follow-on, declarations and draws

The follow-on is one of several tools for forcing a result within the time available, alongside declarations. How a Test match ends in a draw explains the other side of that race against the clock, and how long a cricket match lasts sets out how many overs each day provides. A double century like Laxman's is one of the milestones explained here.

Long matches reward stamina and judgment. In Cricket Sport Career Simulator, one of our sports career games, energy, morale and momentum shape how your cricketer performs as a match goes on.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

What is the follow-on in cricket?
In a two-innings match, if the side batting first leads by at least a set margin after both first innings, its captain can require the other side to bat again immediately, instead of the usual alternate order. That is enforcing the follow-on.
How many runs ahead do you need to enforce the follow-on?
Law 14 sets the minimum lead by match length: 200 runs for five days or more, 150 runs for three or four days, 100 runs for two days and 75 runs for one day. The ICC's playing conditions use the same 200 for Tests and 150 for four-day Tests.
Why would a captain not enforce the follow-on?
Because it is a gamble with their own bowlers. Wikipedia notes that captains weigh the score, the strength of the sides, the weather, the pitch and the time remaining. Bowling two innings in a row is tiring, and Wikipedia notes a side can be harder to dismiss in its second innings; batting again instead lets the leading side add runs or use up time so the other side has no chance of victory.
Has a team ever won after following on?
Four times in Test cricket: England beat Australia at Sydney in 1894–95 and at Headingley in 1981, India beat Australia at Kolkata in 2001, and New Zealand beat England by one run at Wellington in 2023.

Sources

  1. The Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code, 4th Edition (2026), Law 14 The follow-on (opens in a new tab)Marylebone Cricket Club — accessed
  2. ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions, October 2026 (opens in a new tab)International Cricket Council — accessed
  3. Follow-on (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed

League, team and athlete names appear here only to identify the rules, records and history being discussed. Reign Creative LLC's sports games are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any league, team, players' association or athlete, and all names and marks belong to their owners.

About the author

— The independent app studio that builds the apps covered on this site and publishes every article here. On Google Play it publishes as Reign Collective Apps.

We use AI tools to help research, draft and edit our articles. Each article lists the sources its factual claims rely on, and details about our apps come from their live Google Play listings. No article on this site has been reviewed by an independent expert unless the reviewer is named on it.

No person at Reign Creative LLC has read this article in full. It was published after automated checks and an AI editorial review, which are described in our editorial policy and are not the same as a person reading every sentence.

Spotted an error? Tell us — how corrections are handled is set out in our editorial policy.

Keep reading