Choosing the batting order involves a combination of assessing batting ability and adjusting to the specific conditions and scenarios of a game. Teams will sometimes change the planned order during a game for specific situations.
The batting order is simply the order in which the batters will take their turn to start their innings as a previous batter is dismissed.
Given that time is a restriction in most games (either through limited overs or through the overall time limit of a declaration game), the natural principle of a running order will be to have the best batters first (when they have more time to play) and the worst batters last (when there’s less chance they’ll need to bat at all.) However, teams will often vary from this principle in several key ways:
- The best batter may come in at number three rather than statr. That’s because of the increased uncertainty about the pitch (eg how quickly the ball bounces and how much it changes direction) at the start of the innings, particularly in the first innings of a game. Some teams will not want to risk their best batter being dismissed before the team as a whole has tested the conditions.
- Some batters may be particularly skilled at reaching the boundary and/or less skilled at playing against spin bowlers. Both of these may mean a player is better suited to playing during a PowerPlay. A team might send such a batter out out earlier in the batting order if a wicket falls during the Power Play but send a more skilled overall batter out if no wicket falls until after the Power Play.
- Some batters have a high risk-high reward approach, for example being able to hit boundaries but at an increased risk of being dismissed through a missed shot or a catch. These batters may come in earlier than usual in the batting order if the team has been scoring slowly and is running out of overs.
- A team may prefer to have a left-handed batter and a right-handed batter playing together where possible as this can disrupt both the bowler (who has to change their aim) and the fielders (who have to relocate) every time a different player takes strike. They may set or change the batting order to achieve this.
- A team may send a weaker batter out earlier in a declaration game if it’s late in the day and fading light means there’s a higher risk of a batter being dismissed. This weaker batter, known as a nightwatchman, is used with the logic that it’s safer than risking a more skilled batter before the next day’s play.
Teams will usually have a planned batting order before the game, but the Laws of Cricket don’t require a team to submit a batting order in advance, either to officials or their opponents. Usually, they will submit a batting order as a courtesy to help scorers (and broadcasters), but they don’t have to stick to this order.
The captain can change their mind about who will bat next until a player steps foot on the field, at which point they are legally classed as the incoming batter. This means they are at risk of being “timed out” if they are not at the wicket and ready to face a delivery by a set time (usually three minutes) after the last dismissal.
If no player has stepped on the pitch when the time period expires, there is no incoming batter and thus nobody can be dismissed via “timed out”. However, if there’s an “extended delay” in which no player emerges, the umpire has the right to award the match to the fielding team.