Editing Declaration and forfeiture (section)

===Tactical considerations===
The basic tactical idea of declaration is that a team declares because they feel they have enough runs to produce a positive result in the current match situation. The specifics of when to declare will come down to which innings of the match is being played, the time when the declaration occurs and how much of the match is left to play. A common example of timing a declaration is when the declaration comes near the end of play for the day. A team who have batted through the day may decide that the extra runs on offer are worth less than the opportunity to bowl at a team who are tired from standing in the field all day.

A team in the first of the four innings can have to make a tactical choice between continuing to bat in their first innings and declaring. The existence of the [[follow-on]] law makes amassing a very large lead worthwhile as it can prevent the game from being lost due to how long it would take a team to equalise the scores even if they avoid being bowled out. Declaring with a large total and many wickets in hand can be a choice that backfires if the team batting second go on to make their own very large total. A significant amount of the highest innings totals in Test cricket have come from the team batting second and some have gone on to win those games.

Weather conditions can also make a team decide to declare. If rain may put an end to a match prematurely and there is an incentive to product a result it may make a team declare on what would normally be a low total as they try to win the shortened match. The [[Sticky wicket]] that existed before covered pitches could induce very low total declarations. In the First Test of the [[1950–51 Ashes series]].<ref name="unusual">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VetXQ3O1sUoC&pg=PA111|title=The Ashes' Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Tales from Over a Century of the Ashes|first=Mark|last=Baldwin|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|isbn=9781861058638|access-date=22 March 2017|via=Google Books|archive-date=29 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429065027/https://books.google.com/books?id=VetXQ3O1sUoC&pg=PA111|url-status=live}}</ref> As recorded in ''The Ashes' Strangest Moments'', as the pitch at [[the Gabba]] began to dry, England [[Declaration and forfeiture#Declaration|declared]] their first innings at just 68/7, in order to exploit the conditions.<ref name="unusual"/> Australia were even more extreme, declaring at 32/7.<ref name="unusual"/> "...the ball proceeded to perform capers all against the laws of [[gravity|gravitation]], and there came the craziest day's cricket imaginable, with twenty wickets falling for 130 runs and two declarations that must surely be unique in the annals of Test cricket."<ref>[[John Kay (cricket journalist)|John Kay]], ''Ashes to Hassett, A review of the M.C.C. tour of Australia, 1950–51'', John Sherratt & Son, 1951 p129</ref>

A team batting in the 3rd innings of the match can declare in order to attempt to bowl out their opponents in a short amount of time rather than allowing the game to meander to a draw. In their 1984 tour of Sri Lanka, New Zealand beat the hosts by declaring to set a target of 263 runs shortly after lunch on day 5. [[Arjuna Ranatunga]] scored 51 but the rest of the team collapsed around him and shortly after his caught & bowled exit off [[John Bracewell]] it was [[Stephen Boock]] who took the final wicket with Sri Lanka on 97 from 28 overs. In games where innings have taken a significant amount of time, or where weather has delayed play there are cases of a "draw by agreement" that ends the game following a declaration of the third innings.

The fact that a team ends their innings and gives up the chance to score mores runs can make declarations a bad decision in hindsight. In the 2nd Test of the [[2012–13 Border–Gavaskar Trophy]] the Australian side declared so they could bowl at India for 3 overs at the end of the first day rather than see if their final pair of batsmen could score additional runs. India went on to score 503 in their only innings of the game as Australia collapsed all out for 131 in their 2nd innings, losing the game by an innings & 135 runs.

In 2017 England declared [[West Indian cricket team in England in 2017|while hosting the West Indies]] in the 2nd test, at 490/8d in their 2nd innings. This left the West Indies a target of 322 to win from 96 overs. The opening batters navigated the 6 over spell before stumps and on the final day [[Kraigg Brathwaite]] scored 95 & [[Shai Hope]] 118 not out to give his side an unlikely 5 wicket win 6 overs before the close of play.

During the English tour of South Africa in 1948/49, the 5th test ended with an English victory. South Africa declared on 3/187 to give England a target of 172. The English achieved that figure in their 24th over for the loss of 7 wickets. [[Jack Crapp]] hit 10 runs off 3 balls to secure the win which came one minute before the 4 day game was due to finish.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/defeated-after-declaring-384021 | title=Defeated after declaring }}</ref>

There have been occasions where a team have declared in both their innings and lost. South Africa faced Australia in Sydney in 2006, South Africa scored 451/9d and 194/6d. Australia scored 359 in their first innings and were set 287 runs for victory in their second. [[Matthew Hayden]] & [[Ricky Ponting]] put up a 150 run partnership for the 3rd wicket then Ponting & [[Brad Hodge]] secured the win in the 61st over as Ponting finished not out on 143. In 1968 [[Garry Sobers]] and his West Indian team declared on 526/7 and 92/2 to set England 215 to win in 3 hours, that the English did through half-centuries to [[Geoffrey Boycott]] and [[Colin Cowdrey]] to win the game with 7 wickets & 3 minutes to spare.