A rule change sent in September 2025 may have a big bearing on the upcoming 2025/26 NSW Premier Cricket Men’s finals series.
After years of the highest-ranking team being able to bat for as long as they like and take home the draw, Cricket NSW has put a cap on the number of overs a team can bat for in the Finals series.
The number of overs varies depending on the grade, and changes as we go deeper into the Finals series.
It is an interesting move, and no doubt there will be arguments for and against. The argument for this is of course that it will present more attacking and therefore better quality cricket.
The people against this move will come up with the fact that the higher ranked team over a long, long season can do what they like as they are the better team.
Whatever your opinion, it is sure to bring a different tactical battle to this year’s finals series.
Here is how it will work:
All scheduled two-day finals series matches in all grades shall be played under Compulsory Closure conditions.
The Compulsory Closure shall occur at the completion of the over stated below in the first innings of the below matches:
Qualifying Finals
- First Grade and Second Grade – 135 overs
- Third Grade, Fourth Grade & Fifth Grade – 125 overs
Semi-Finals
- First Grade and Second Grade – 135 overs
- Third Grade, Fourth Grade & Fifth Grade – 125 overs
Finals
- First Grade and Second Grade – Not Limit
- Third Grade, Fourth Grade & Fifth Grade – 125 overs
An important little piece of information is that if a team chooses to bowl first in a match, the over limitations will not apply.
There will also be no change in the over limits as a result of time lost, for whatever reason, across the match.
It’s an interesting change, but the reality is that there will be very few games where this will come into play. Finals series are notoriously tough batting conditions due to the wet weather at this time of year, as well as the pressure situations batters find themselves in.
But it’s still a change that will result in great debate.
