How Many Balls Were Originally In A Test Over? The Surprising History Of Cricket’s Most Basic Unit

By Prashant for PuneriPages.in

If you’re like me, you’ve probably grown up watching cricket assuming six-ball overs were just the way it is—unchangeable, sacred even. But here’s a fun fact that stopped me in my tracks: it wasn’t always six balls. In fact, depending on where and when you watched cricket, an over could have had 4, 5, 6, or even 8 deliveries.

I know, it sounds like one of those pub quiz trick questions, but it’s true.

So I did what I always do when something strange catches my curiosity—I dug deep. And what I found was a surprisingly tangled and fascinating history of one of cricket’s most basic rules. Let’s go back a bit.

A Short Over of History: How It All Started

Cricket has always had a flair for the quirky. In the late 1800s, when Test cricket first made its appearance, there was no global agreement on over length. Everyone was doing their own thing.

1877 (First Test Match): The England vs. Australia Test featured 4-ball overs. That was the standard in England until 1889.
1889-1899: Australia went rogue and tested out 5-ball overs, while England kept things at four.
1900s: Experimentation was in full swing. England flirted with 5-ball overs, then adopted 6-ball overs in 1902.
1922-1979 (Australia’s Eight-Ball Era): This one blew my mind. Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand ran with 8-ball overs for most of the 20th century.

I remember watching old tapes of Dennis Lillee as a kid and thinking, “Why aren’t they switching ends after six?” Turns out, those were eight-ball overs.

Why Did They Keep Changing It?

From what I gathered, a few reasons:

Broadcasting Convenience: Longer overs = fewer commercial breaks = broadcasters loved it.
Umpire Fatigue: Fewer over changes meant umpires didn’t have to move as often.
Strategy and Flow: Shorter overs gave captains more flexibility with bowling changes.

But here’s the kicker: there was no ICC-mandated rule until the late 1970s. So everyone kind of did what suited them best.

The Six-Ball Standard (Since 1979)

By the time TV really became the boss in the late ’70s, the ICC stepped in. They decided it was time to make things uniform. The six-ball over became the global standard in 1979. Not because it was the most traditional, but because it made the most sense for broadcasting and consistency.

Today, whether you’re watching a gritty Day 5 Test match or a wild T20 slugfest, the six-ball over rules the roost. But that journey took almost a century.

So What? Why Should a Modern Cricket Fan Care?

Honestly? Because it changes how we interpret the game.

Stats Hit Different: A 5-wicket haul in 8-ball overs is a different beast than one in 6.
Game Rhythm: Longer overs = longer spells = different strategies.
Comparing Eras: It’s not just about how many wickets or runs—it’s about how they were achieved.

Cricket isn’t just about numbers. It’s about context. And this is one of those details that adds a whole new lens to how we see the game.

Quick Recap (Info Box): How Over Length Changed Over Time

1877: 4 balls per over (England)
1889: 5 balls (Australia)
1900-1902: Transition between 5 and 6
1922-1979: 8-ball overs in Australia, South Africa
Post-1979: 6-ball overs standardised worldwide

A Coach Remembers:

“When I was a kid, we had this old Aussie tape with Dennis Lillee bowling eight-ball overs. I remember being confused for years,” laughs Pune-based cricket coach Rohan Naik. “It wasn’t until college that I realised this was a real thing.”

Final Over: The Takeaway

Next time someone casually compares Bumrah to Waqar Younis or Ashwin to Shane Warne, just smile and ask: “How many balls per over were they bowling?”

That tiny detail changes everything.

It’s just one of the many little quirks that make cricket endlessly fascinating. Even something as basic as the number of balls in an over has a story—and now, you know it.

For more cricket explainers, trivia, and stories from the sport (and the city we love), stay tuned to puneripages.in.