How to Read a Cricket Scorecard: Every Column Explained

The score line

The score line is the short summary at the top. It looks like this: 187/4 (18.2).

• 187 is the runs the team has scored.
• 4 is the wickets it has lost. A side is all out when it loses 10.
• (18.2) is the overs bowled so far: 18 full overs and 2 balls.

The number after the dot is balls, not a decimal. An over has six balls, so the count goes 18.1, 18.2, 18.3, 18.4, 18.5 and then 19.0. You will never see 18.6. Some scoreboards, mostly in Australia, flip the first two numbers and write 4/187.

During a match the score line often adds two rates. The current run rate is runs scored per over so far. The required run rate is runs still needed per over left. The run rate calculator works out both from the numbers on the score line.

The batting card

The batting card has one row for each batter, in the order they came in to bat.

• R: runs the batter scored.
• B: balls the batter faced. A wide does not count as a ball faced. A no-ball does.
• 4s and 6s: how many fours and sixes the batter hit. These runs are already inside the R column.
• SR: strike rate, the runs scored per 100 balls. The sum is runs divided by balls, times 100. For the first opener that is 45 ÷ 30 × 100 = 150.00.

A star next to a score, such as 63*, means the batter was not out. The mark (c) shows the captain and † shows the wicketkeeper. Batters who never got to the crease appear under “Did not bat”.

To check a strike rate yourself, or to turn a season of scores into a batting average, use the strike rate and economy calculator.

Dismissal codes

The “How out” column uses short codes. The letter c is followed by the fielder who took the catch. The letter b is followed by the bowler who gets credit for the wicket.

Rarer entries are spelled out in full: obstructing the field, timed out, hit the ball twice and retired out. The cricket glossary explains each of them.

Extras

Extras are runs that no batter hit. They sit on their own line under the batting card, like this: Extras 12 (b 1, lb 4, w 5, nb 2).

• b, byes: the ball missed bat and body, and the batters ran anyway.
• lb, leg byes: the ball hit the batter’s body, not the bat, and they ran.
• w, wides: the ball was too far from the batter to hit. It costs one run and must be bowled again.
• nb, no-balls: an illegal delivery, most often because the bowler’s front foot landed past the line. It costs one run and must be bowled again.
• p, penalty runs: rare. The umpires award five runs for certain breaches of the laws.

Here is a useful check. Add up every batter’s runs, then add the extras. The answer must equal the team total. If the batters made 171 and extras were 12, the total is 183.

The bowling card

The bowling card has one row for each bowler the fielding side used.

• O: overs bowled. As on the score line, 3.3 means 3 overs and 3 balls.
• M: maidens. A maiden is a full over in which the bowler gave away no runs.
• R: runs conceded. Wides and no-balls count against the bowler. Byes and leg byes do not.
• W: wickets taken. Run outs are not included.
• Econ: economy rate, the runs conceded per over. Seamer gave away 28 runs in 4 overs, so 28 ÷ 4 = 7.00.

Part overs need care. The third bowler bowled 3 overs and 3 balls, which is 3.5 overs in the maths because 3 balls is half an over. So the economy is 21 ÷ 3.5 = 6.00, not 21 ÷ 3.3.

Bowling figures are often written in one line as overs-maidens-runs-wickets. Seamer’s figures are 4-0-28-2. In short form people say “2 for 28”. Some cards add columns for wides, no-balls and dot balls.

Fall of wickets

The fall of wickets line shows the team score each time a batter got out. An entry looks like this: 2-57 (Second opener, 7.4 ov). It means the second wicket fell with the team on 57, the batter out was the second opener, and it happened on the fourth ball of the eighth over.

Subtract one entry from the one before and you get the partnership. If the first wicket fell at 24 and the second at 57, the second pair added 33 runs together. A line such as 1-24, 2-57, 3-61, 4-64 tells you the side lost three wickets for 7 runs, which is a collapse. Big gaps between entries mean a strong partnership.

The result line and Test extras

The result line names the winner and the margin. A side that batted first wins “by runs”. A side that batted last wins “by wickets”, counting how many wickets it still had in hand.

Test scorecards add a few marks because each side bats twice:

• 350/7d: the letter d means the captain declared the innings closed with seven wickets down.
• (f/o): the side followed on, batting its second innings straight after its first.
• Won by an innings and 12 runs: one side’s single innings beat the other side’s two innings added together, with 12 runs to spare.

The best way to learn is to read a real card. Open a finished match on the Crics Live cricket results page and trace the innings from the score line down to the fall of wickets.