Finished with singular periods of play (5)
I believe the answer is:
overs
'periods of play' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'finished with singular' is the wordplay.
'finished' becomes 'over' (over can mean finished or ended).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'singular' becomes 's' (abbreviation sometimes used in dictionaries).
'over'+'s'='OVERS'
(Other definitions for overs that I've seen before include "they may be limited internationally" , "Bowling spells" , "Sets of six balls bowled" , "Lots of deliveries" , "Divisions of a cricket match" .)