Innings (cricket)

Innings is a term used in cricket. The same word applies to both the singular and plural forms, so a cricketer might refer to "an innings" and "both innings". This contrasts with baseball in which the singular is "inning".

An innings is one of the divisions of a match during which one team takes its turn to bat. In a first-class match, there are up to four innings with each team due to bat twice (in practice, this is not always the case). In a limited overs match, there are only two innings with each team batting once. The term is also used with the meaning of "score" for both the team and each individual batsman. For example, it may be said that "he played an innings of 101", meaning that the player scored 101 in his innings. Alternatively, it may be said that the team scored 501 in their first innings.

The term can generally be taken as a reference to the time during which someone possesses something and, colloquially, the phrase "a good innings" means a long life.<ref>Chambers, p. 768.