How Does Cricket Scoring Work? | Explained

Have you ever looked at a cricket scorecard and wondered what 145/3, 18.4 overs or 46 (20) means?

You’re definitely not alone.

Cricket scoring can look confusing when you first start watching the game. There are runs, wickets, extras, overs, strike rates and plenty of numbers on the screen. 

But once you understand what each one means, following a cricket match becomes much more fun.

In this guide, we’ll explain how cricket scoring works.

So what exactly is cricket scoring?

See, cricket scoring is the process of recording everything that happens during a match.

Every ball that a bowler delivers is recorded. Every run, wicket, extra, boundary and over is added to the team’s score. 

By the end of the match, the scoreboard tells the complete story of how both teams performed.

Now what’s a scoreboard? And how to read it?

A scoreboard basically has all the numbers mentioned above. Like how many runs a team has scored, overs bowled and batters’ and bowlers’ stats.

Let’s understand it with an example.

Suppose the scoreboard displays this:

India: 185/4 (20 Overs)

Now 185 means the runs scored by India. 4 means the number of wickets India lost. And 20 means the number of overs India batted.

But how do teams and batters score runs?

Runs are the most important part of cricket scoring. The batting team tries to score as many runs as possible before its innings ends.

And there are several ways to score runs.

Running Between the Wickets

The most common way is by running between the two wickets on the pitch.

After hitting the ball, both batters run to the opposite end of the pitch. If they complete one run safely, the team earns one run.

If they keep running before the fielding team returns the ball, they can score two, three or sometimes even four runs by running.

Boundary

Sometimes the batter hits the ball so well that running is not needed.

There are two types of boundaries.

First is a four. If the ball reaches the boundary after touching the ground, the batting team gets four runs.

And the second is a six. If the ball crosses the boundary without touching the ground, it is worth six runs.

A six is the highest number of runs a batter can score from a single legal delivery.

Extras

Not every run comes from the batter’s bat.

Sometimes the bowling team gives away runs because of mistakes. These are called extras, and they are added to the team’s total.

You can see four types of extras.

Wide

If the ball passes way too far outside of the batter’s reach, the umpire signals it as a wide and awards one run to the batting team. This delivery doesn’t count. And the bowler needs to bowl it again.

No Ball

If the bowler oversteps or bowls a full toss above waist height, it’s signalled as a no ball. The batting side gets a run and a free-hit in limited-overs matches. (There are 15+ types of no balls, learn about each of them here!)

Bye

Sometimes the batter misses the ball, and it passes the wicketkeeper. If the batters run, those runs are called byes.

Leg Bye

If the ball hits the batter’s body instead of the bat and the batters complete runs, they are called leg byes.

Now what’s a wicket? And how do teams get it?

A wicket means the batting team has lost one batter.

And a bowling team can take wickets in many ways, including:

• Bowled
• Caught
• Run out
• Leg Before Wicket (LBW)
• Stumped
• Hit wicket

Now tell me about an over?

An over is a set of six legal deliveries bowled by a bowler. And a match can have 20 or 50 overs depending on the format.

For instance, a T20 match has 20 overs per innings. Since there are two innings, a T20 match has 40 overs.

Likewise, a One Day International (ODI) match has 50 overs per innings. That means 100 overs in a single ODI match.

And in Test cricket, there’s no such limit on the number of overs a team can bowl or bat.

You’ll often notice numbers like this (12.3) in the overs column. This simply means 12 overs have been bowled and the 13th over is underway with three balls delivered.

Now let’s understand individual player scoring.

Batter’s Statistics

You must’ve noticed a couple of number in front a batter’s name like this: 68 (45).

Now 68 means the runs scored by the batter. And 45 represents the balls faced by the batter.

There’s also another number like this (151.11) which tells the strike rate. It basically means the number of runs the batter scores for every 100 balls faced.

And then there are numbers representing fours and sixes hit by the batter.

Bowler’s Statistics

A bowlers numbers in a match often read like this: 4-0-28-2.

4 means the number of overs bowled by the bowler. 0 is the maiden overs bowled, in this case none. 28 shows the run conceded by the bowler and 2 means the wickets taken by the bowler.

You might as well notice an economy rate, which tells how much runs the bowler conceded per over.

This is pretty much you need to know about the scoring system used in cricket.

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