How to Read a Scorecard
Once the shorthand clicks, a scorecard tells you the whole story of a day's play at a glance. Here is the code.
A scorecard is dense on purpose — it compresses hours of play into a few lines. Learn four small patterns and you can read any cricket scorecard in the world.
The team total
You will see something like 245/6, read aloud as 'two hundred and forty-five for six'. The first number is runs scored; the second is wickets lost. A trailing 'd' (245/6d) means the captain declared — voluntarily ended the innings to have a bowl. In Australia the order is flipped: they write 6/245, meaning the same thing.
A batter's line
Each batter gets a line describing how they were out and how many they made. Read it left to right: name, then the method of dismissal, then the score.
| You see | It means |
|---|---|
| b Cummins 40 | Bowled by Cummins for 40 runs |
| c Smith b Lyon 82 | Caught by Smith, bowled by Lyon, for 82 |
| lbw b Khan 0 | Leg before wicket off Khan, for nought (a 'duck') |
| run out 17 | Run out for 17 |
| not out 64* | Still in when the innings ended — the * means not out |
A bowler's figures
Bowlers are summarised by four numbers in a fixed order: overs–maidens–runs–wickets. So 10–2–34–3 means ten overs bowled, two of them maidens (an over from which no runs were scored), thirty-four runs conceded, and three wickets taken. Of those four, the wickets and the runs are what people quote.
The two rates worth knowing
- Strike rate (batting) — runs scored per 100 balls faced. High is aggressive; it matters most in the short formats.
- Economy rate (bowling) — runs conceded per over. Low is good; a bowler going at under six an over in T20 is doing their job.
- Run rate (team) — runs per over so far, the pulse of a limited-overs chase.
Numbers don't lie, but a scorecard rarely tells you who bowled the spell that turned the match. Read it for the facts, watch the game for the story.