how many runs to avoid a follow on in test cricket

In a standard five-day Test match, the team batting second must score enough runs so that they trail by no more than 199 runs after their first innings to avoid the follow-on. In simple terms, you calculate it as “runs of the team batting first minus 200, plus 1” – that result is the minimum needed to be safe from being asked to bat again immediately.

Basic rule in Tests

• In a five-day Test, the side batting first needs at least a 200-run lead to enforce the follow-on.

• Therefore, the side batting second must get to within 199 runs of the first-innings total to avoid it.

Example:

• Team A: 400 all out (first innings)
• Margin for follow-on in a 5-day Test: 200 runs.

• Minimum to avoid follow-on = 400 − 200 + 1 = 201.

So Team B must score 201 or more; 200 or less means they can be made to follow on.

Easy formula

You can think of it as this formula for five-day Tests:

• Required runs to avoid follow-on
  = (First-innings score of Team 1) − 200 + 1

Or equivalently:

• Team 2 must trail by less than 200 after its first innings.

So if someone asks “how many runs to avoid a follow on in Test cricket,” the precise answer is: enough so that the first-innings deficit is 199 or smaller, which is (opponent’s score − 199) in practice, usually written as (opponent’s score − 200 + 1).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.