1) 20 over games. Each side of 11 players is given a maximum of 20 overs to bat. An over consists of six balls and no bowler may bowl more than 4 overs.
A side is bowled out if 10 of their players are out and then the innings is concluded. The side with the greater number of runs scored wins.
This is the poor man's form of cricket - it is completed in about three hours and tends to be very much made up of artificial excitement - plenty of crash, bang wallop and most advantages going to the batsmen. Skills of the bowlers become less valued than they should.
A bit of fun but not comparable to serious cricket.
2) The 50 over game - 10 overs maximum allowed to each bowler - is a far better form of cricket and will tend to be completed in about 7 hours. The bowlers are treated rather better in this form.
3) The longer form of the game is played in international tests over 5 days of around 6 hours per day. Both sides may have two innings. A draw is possible if a game is not completed in the 5 days. (4 days for the county game.)
This is the highest form of the sport and is much tougher to understand - the game appears much slower but is considerably more nuanced. (If you go to one day of real cricket - do take someone with you who knows the game and can explain it.
More than a mere sport - it is an art form and in the best players - the game becomes a thing of style and great beauty. (Comparisons to sex are not wholly inaccurate when comparing the three forms.)
It may be grossly unkind and unfair to say that the longer forms generally appeal more to those of greater intellect ... but ...
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