Declared is not all out: understanding a cricket declaration
Read declared innings correctly and distinguish ending an innings from forfeiting one before it begins.
The batting captain can close an innings
MCC Law15 allows the captain of the batting side to declare an innings closed when the ball is dead. The declared innings is treated as completed. A team does not have to lose every wicket before its innings can end this way.
A hypothetical 420/6 declared means the side stopped at that score with six wickets lost. It does not mean six was a special all-out threshold or that the remaining wickets vanished. The label explains why the innings ended.
Time and runs are different resources
A declaration can be understood as a decision to stop adding runs and allow the match to move on. The scorecard records the decision; it does not prove the captain's exact thinking about weather, bowling or time remaining.
Do not call a declaration a win. The opposition's innings and the remaining match conditions still determine the result. A lead, a target and a final margin are different numbers.
Forfeiture happens before an innings starts
The same Law allows a captain to forfeit an innings before it begins, which is also considered completed. That is different from batting for a period and then declaring. Read the official innings description instead of guessing from a missing batting row.
The captain notifies the opposing captain and umpires, and the notified decision cannot be changed. On ScoreZaap, combine the score with the innings label and result status. The illustrative total in this guide is not a claim about a live Test or another named fixture.