How to read cricket scorecards

Cricket scoring can sometimes be confusing. From mid-match scoreboards to end of game scorecards, it can be a complex game, even for the most knowledgeable of fans! But with a bit of help from this blog, you can see that they are actually quite easy to understand and built very logically.

HOW TO READ A 

BATTING SCORECARD

For a batsman, a scorecard contains a lot of information and numbers. It includes data such as number of runs scored, time spent batting, number of balls faced and the number of boundaries batsmen have made. 

From this example of the 2020 Test Match series abroad in South Africa, we can see during England’s second innings the stand-out performer was Dom Sibley scoring 133 runs off 311 balls. He batted for an incredible 8 hours and 25 mins scoring nineteen 4s and one 6. He never got out during the innings as England declared for 391-8. 

HOW TO READ A BOWLING SCORECARD

A bowling scorecard is a little more difficult to understand as has it has specific cricketing terminology! The card includes overs bowled, maidens, runs conceded, wickets taken and the economy rate of each bowler.

**A Maiden is an over in which no runs are scored (whether that be off the bat or wides). Therefore, from this bowling scorecard we can see that Dominic Bess performed excellently with the most maidens, but we must take into account he bowled the most overs. 

***Economy rate is the number of runs bowlers have conceded per over bowled. The lower the economy rate is the better the bowler is performing. We can see that James Anderson had the lowest economy during the final innings of the test match series. A special mention should go to Ben Stokes who managed to claim the 3 final wickets in 14 deliveries to seal the last-minute triumph in Cape Town. 

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