Cricket scoring rules
Cricket’s scoreboard looks dense from outside, but it is built from a small number of ideas repeated a lot. Here is the whole thing in plain English.
Runs
A batting pair can run between the wickets after hitting the ball — one run per completed length of the pitch, and they can run more than once off a single ball if there is time. A boundary skips the running: four runs if the ball reaches the rope after bouncing, six if it clears the rope in the air. Every run is added to both the team total and the individual batsman’s score.
Overs
An over is six legal deliveries bowled from one end, after which a different bowler takes over from the other end. A match format is often described by its overs — a 20-over innings is what "T20" means, a 50-over innings is an ODI. A wide or a no ball is illegal and has to be re-bowled, so it does not count toward the six.
Wickets
Two batsmen are in at any time; when one is out, the next comes in. An innings ends when ten of the eleven batsmen are out — the eleventh has nobody left to bat with — or when the overs run out, or when the batting side simply passes the target. See how do wickets fall for the three ways a batsman is actually dismissed.
Extras
| Extra | What causes it | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Wide | Unplayable line or height | 1 run, ball re-bowled |
| No ball | Overstepping, or too high a full toss | 1 run, ball re-bowled, batsman mostly safe from dismissal |
| Bye | Ball beats the bat and the keeper, batsmen run | Runs count, not credited to the batsman |
| Leg bye | Ball hits the batsman’s body, not the bat, and they run | Runs count, not credited to the batsman |
Reading the figures
A bowler’s economy rate is runs conceded per over — lower is tighter. A batsman’s strike rate is runs per 100 balls faced — higher is more aggressive. Both are just ratios built from the runs and balls already on the scoreboard, not separate rules to learn.
See it happen
Every game on SportsDayNight keeps a live scoreboard built from exactly these rules — runs, balls, economy and the tape of the over, updated ball by ball as you bowl or bat.
FAQ
- How many runs is a boundary?
- A four: the ball reaches the boundary rope after touching the ground inside it. A six: the ball clears the rope without bouncing at all. Both are added to the batting side and the individual batsman’s score.
- How many balls are in an over?
- Six legal deliveries. A wide or a no ball does not count toward the six, so an over with extras in it takes more than six balls to complete.
- What is a wide ball?
- A delivery too far from the batsman to be playable with a normal cricket shot — usually well outside off or leg stump, or over head height. It costs a run and does not count as one of the six legal balls.
- What is a no ball?
- Usually an overstep of the bowling crease, or a full-length ball above waist height. It costs a run, does not count toward the over, and in most formats the batsman cannot be given out bowled, caught or LBW off it.
- What is economy rate?
- Runs conceded per over bowled. A bowler with figures of 24 runs from 6 overs has an economy of 4.0 — the lower the number, the tighter the bowling.
- What is strike rate?
- For a batsman, runs scored per 100 balls faced. For a bowler, balls bowled per wicket taken. Same term, opposite meaning depending on who you are talking about.