Innings

An innings, or inning, is a time of a game with fixed-length in any sports during which one team tries to score while the other team tries to prevent the first from scoring. (In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is always spelled and pronounced with the terminal "s". In baseball, the singular form is inning and only the plural takes an "s".)

In many other sports, the length of the game is dictated by a clock and teams swap offensive and defensive roles dynamically by taking possession of a ball or similar item. In baseball and cricket, however, one team, said to be "batting", attempts to score "runs"—see run (baseball) and run (cricket)—while the other team, said to be "fielding", attempts to prevent the scoring of runs and get members of the batting team out. The teams switch places after the fielding team has succeeded in getting a fixed number of players out, making a clock unnecessary.