Test cricket session timings have been hit significantly for the final day of the first Ashes 2023 match at Edgbaston. The same was bound to happen after rain washed out the entire morning session. While the first session of the day was going to be extended by 15 minutes to accommodate the loss of overs on Day 3, play starting for the first time in the day 195 minutes after the originally scheduled start hints at a larger loss in terms of time.
Advertisement
Veteran England pacer Stuart Broad, however, didn’t waste a lot of time before picking the first wicket of the day in his fourth over. Having dismissed a couple of key Australian batters in the third session yesterday, Broad dismissed nightwatchman Scott Boland (20) to reduce the equation for his team to needing six wickets to win the match. Interestingly, all the three dismissals of right-handed batters were caught behind by wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow.
Boland gone! 🤩
The Night Hawk gets the nightwatcher 👏 #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/qYhKZiW0ea
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 20, 2023
Test Cricket Session Times Today
First things first, players will participate in only a couple of sessions on Day 5. Furthermore, both the sessions will be carried on for more than two hours – normal time duration of a session in Test cricket.
With tea break being the only interval between the two sessions, its duration will continue to be 20 minutes. Taking into consideration the aforementioned time lost in the day’s play, fans wouldn’t want for a lot of breaks to disrupt momentum and harm their team’s chance of securing a 1-0 lead in a five-match series.
First Session – 02:15 PM to 04:30 PM
Tea – 04:30 PM to 04:50 PM
Second Session – 04:50 PM to 07:00 PM
Since this is the last day of a Test match, the concept of an additional 30 minutes to ensure completion of overs won’t be followed. Having said that, a total of 15 overs are to be bowled in the last one hour of the match. Assuming that the bowling team isn’t able to ensure an over rate of 15, play will continue till the time they don’t bowl the required number of overs. For the unversed, 67 overs are to be bowled across these two sessions.
While the above mentioned timings are as per the local time in Birmingham, Day 5 session timings for Indian fans are:
First Session – 06:45 PM to 09:00 PM
Tea – 09:00 PM to 09:20 PM
Second Session – 09:20 PM to 11:30 PM