Follow-On Margin Interpreter
Follow-On Margin Interpreter
The lead a side needs before it can enforce the follow-on is not one number. Law 14 sets four, by the scheduled length of the match — 200, 150, 100 and 75 runs — and losing the whole first day moves a match down a step, so a Test that starts on day two needs 150.
Can the follow-on be enforced on this lead?
Laws of CricketA five-day Test, play on the first day, a first-innings lead of 183
The four margins, by scheduled match length
| Match scheduled for | Lead required | Law |
|---|---|---|
| 5 days or more | 200 runs | 14.1.1 |
| 4 days | 150 runs | 14.1.2 |
| 3 days | 150 runs | 14.1.2 |
| 2 days | 100 runs | 14.1.2 |
| 1 day | 75 runs | 14.1.2 |
Law 14.3: lose the whole first day and the margin moves
| Scheduled | First day lost? | Days that count | Lead required |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 days | no | 5 | 200 runs |
| 5 days | yes | 4 | 150 runs |
| 4 days | no | 4 | 150 runs |
| 4 days | yes | 3 | 150 runs — unchanged |
| 3 days | no | 3 | 150 runs |
| 3 days | yes | 2 | 100 runs |
| 2 days | no | 2 | 100 runs |
| 2 days | yes | 1 | 75 runs |
One number everybody knows, and three they do not
Almost every cricket follower knows that a side needs a lead of 200 to enforce the follow-on, and almost nobody knows that this is only the Test figure. Law 14 of the Laws of Cricket sets four margins, one for each scheduled match length: 200 runs in a two-innings match of five days or more (Law 14.1.1), and in Law 14.1.2 150 runs over three or four days, 100 over two days and 75 over one. The 2026 edition of the Laws was read for this page and Law 14 is not among the 73 changes the MCC made in it, so these are the same four figures the 3rd Edition carried. The ICC restates all four at clauses 14.1.1 and 14.1.2 of its Men’s Test Match Playing Conditions, effective from June 2025, which is the strongest kind of corroboration available: the body that runs international cricket reprinting the Law rather than modifying it.
Two things about the option itself, before the arithmetic. It belongs only to the side that bats first — a side batting second that builds a huge lead cannot make its opponents bat again, which is why the field for the lead here accepts a negative number and answers that the follow-on does not arise. And it is an option, not a consequence: Law 14.2 requires the captain to notify the opposing captain and the umpires of the intention to take it up, and once that is done the decision cannot be changed. The Law says the lead must be “at least” the figure, so a Test lead of exactly 200 is enough.
The clause that catches people is Law 14.3, and it is the reason this page asks whether the first day was lost. Where no play at all takes place on the first day of a match longer than one day, Law 14.1 applies to the number of days REMAINING from the start of play, and the first day on which play does begin counts as a whole day whatever hour it starts at. A five-day Test washed out on day one is therefore a four-day match for this purpose and the margin falls from 200 to 150 — a difference of fifty runs, decided by weather on a day nobody played. Play counts as having taken place once the first over has started after the call of Play, so a day on which a single ball was bowled before the rain is not a lost first day.
A four-day match is the one case where the clause changes nothing, because three and four days share the 150-run margin: lose day one of a four-day match and it becomes a three-day match, which needs the same lead. That is precisely why this page asks for three and four days separately rather than offering them as one option, as the Law’s own bullet list does. Group them and the page would be wrong for the three-day match that loses its first day and should drop to 100.
What Law 14 does not do is worth stating too. Nothing in it reallocates the margin for a day lost later in the match: a Test that loses its third day entirely still needs a lead of 200. And nothing in it applies to a single-innings match at all — a limited-overs game has no follow-on, because neither side bats twice.
The Laws of Cricket got a new edition eleven days before this page was written, and that matters for every Law quoted on it. The MCC’s 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026) came into force on 1 October 2026 with 73 changes to the 3rd Edition (2022); its PDF carries “© Marylebone Cricket Club 2026” and a preface signed 1 October 2026. The individual Law pages published at lords.org still carry a 2017 copyright line and in at least one place still print the superseded text. So every Law on this page is printed with the document it was actually read from on 12 October 2026 — the 4th Edition’s own PDF, the MCC’s published list of the 73 changes, or an individual Law page at lords.org — and where those disagree, or where a Law’s text could not be read at all, the page says which. A competition’s playing conditions may modify any Law, and several do.
A competition’s playing conditions can modify any Law and some do, which is why every figure here is printed with the body that publishes it. For the rest of a multi-day match’s arithmetic, the over rate and overs short calculator works out whether the fielding side has bowled its overs and what the published penalties are, and the Test championship points percentage calculator turns the results of a Test series into the percentage the championship table is ordered on. The dismissal methods interpreter sets out the ten ways the innings you are leading by can end.
Frequently asked questions
How big a lead do you need to enforce the follow-on?
It depends on how long the match is scheduled for. Law 14.1.1 of the Laws of Cricket requires 200 runs in a two-innings match of five days or more, and Law 14.1.2 requires 150 over three or four days, 100 over two days and 75 over one. The Law says “at least”, so exactly 200 is enough in a Test.
Does the follow-on margin change if a day is washed out?
Only if it is the FIRST day, and only if no play at all took place on it. Law 14.3 then applies Law 14.1 to the days remaining, so a five-day Test that loses day one needs 150 rather than 200. A day lost later in the match changes nothing: the margin is still 200.
Is the follow-on compulsory once the lead is big enough?
No. Law 14.1 gives the side batting first the OPTION of requiring the other side to follow on. Under Law 14.2 the captain notifies the opposing captain and the umpires if they intend to take it up, and once notified the decision cannot be changed.
Can the side batting second enforce the follow-on?
No. The option in Law 14.1 belongs to the side which bats first and leads. A side batting second that builds a large first-innings lead has no equivalent power, and this page answers that the follow-on does not arise if you enter a negative lead.
Is there a follow-on in a one-day or Twenty20 match?
No. Law 14 is about two-innings matches. The one-day figure of 75 runs in Law 14.1.2 is for a two-innings match scheduled to be completed in a single day, not for a limited-overs game, in which neither side bats twice at all.
Which edition of the Laws does this page use?
The MCC’s 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026), which came into force on 1 October 2026 with 73 changes, read from the MCC’s own PDF of that edition on 12 October 2026. Law 14 is not among the 73. The individual Law pages at lords.org still carry a 2017 copyright line and in at least one place still print superseded text, so this page uses the edition’s own document.
Related calculators
References
- Marylebone Cricket Club. The Laws of Cricket (2017 Code 4th Edition – 2026), official PDF — Law 14.1.1 (a lead of 200 runs in a two-innings match of 5 days or more), 14.1.2 (150 runs for 3 or 4 days, 100 for 2 days, 75 for 1 day), 14.2 (notification, after which the decision cannot be changed), 14.3 (first day’s play lost); Laws 15.1–15.2 (declaration and forfeiture); and the contents list of Laws 1 to 42, from which the nine dismissal Laws 32 to 40 and retired out at Law 25.4 are taken. Title page “© Marylebone Cricket Club 2026”, preface signed 1 October 2026. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). The extracted text stops inside Law 21.11, so Laws 22 to 42 were read from the individual Law pages instead.
- Marylebone Cricket Club. Law 14 – The follow-on, individual Law page — 14.1.1 (200 runs, 5 days or more), 14.1.2 (150 for 3 or 4 days, 100 for 2, 75 for 1), 14.2 Notification, 14.3 First day’s play lost, which applies 14.1 to the days remaining from the start of play and counts the first day on which play starts as a whole day whatever the hour. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). This page carries “© Marylebone Cricket Club 2017”, not the 2026 edition’s line.
- International Cricket Council. ICC Men’s Test Match Playing Conditions, “Effective from June 2025” — 12.9.1 (“The minimum over rate to be achieved in Matches shall be 15 overs per hour”), 12.9.2 (calculated at the end of the match across both of the batting side’s innings), 12.9.3.1–12.9.3.7 (the time allowances, including 2 minutes a wicket where the next batter starts immediately, with nothing for an innings’ final wicket or one just before an interval, and 4 minutes a drinks break), 12.9.4.1–12.9.4.3 (the 80 and 160-over exemptions), 12.9.5 (the third umpire advises at least every 30 minutes), 12.9.6 (“one Penalty Over for each full over the team falls short”), 12.7.11, and 14.1.1–14.1.2 (the follow-on, restating 200 / 150 / 100 / 75). images.icc-cricket.com (read 12 Oct 2026). Clause 16 as received runs only to 16.8 and contains no 16.11.
- Marylebone Cricket Club. Changes to the Laws of Cricket for the 2026 edition — 73 changes to the 4th Edition of the 2017 Code, effective 1 October 2026. Law 22.1.3 makes a delivery bouncing over the striker’s head height a Wide rather than a No ball; Law 37.1.3 is new; Laws 21.6, 21.7, 21.9, 21.12, 23.3, 32.1.2, 33.2.2, 34.3, 34.4, 35.2 and 17.5.2 are altered. Law 14 is not among the 73. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). The extracted text is garbled in places and names a fuller companion document that was not fetched.
- Marylebone Cricket Club. The Laws of Cricket — the Laws index, listing the 2017 Code 4th edition (2026) above the 3rd edition (2022) and the 2nd edition (2019), with “Changes to Laws for 2026” and “© MCC 2026”. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026).