How to Understand Cricket Statistics

Cricket is an acquired taste, but partly because it looks so difficult to learn. Watch cricket on TV or look it up on the internet and more than any sport you will be overloaded with abbreviations and numbers that look as simple to understand as Flemish. This article attempts to decipher some of this information and hope fully allow you to concentrate on cricket as a spectacle.

Instructions

  1. How to Understand a Bowlers Statistics

    • 1

      Look at Andy Flintoff's bowling statistics on Cric Info (link below). Along the top it reads mat, inns, balls, runs, wkts, BBI, BBM, ave, econ, SR, 4w, 5w, 10. Then up the side it reads tests, ODI, T20Is, List A, First Class and Twenty20. Under each heading is Flintoff's statistics.

    • 2

      Know the meaning of the headings. Mat means matches played. Inn mean the number innings bowled. Balls are the number of balls delivered in a career. Runs are the number of runs conceded. Wtks are the number of batsmen bowled out. BBI stands for best bowling performance in one innings. BBM is the best bowling performance in a match. The average is the number of runs conceded to the number of people bowled out. Econ is the number of runs conceded per over (in cricket six balls equals 1 over). SR is the average number of balls delivered between each wicket taken. 4W is the number of time he has taken 4 wickets in an innings. 5W is the number of times he has taken 5 batsmen in an innings. 10wkts is the number of times he has taken a total of 10 wickets in a match.

    • 3

      Know the mean of the headings along the side. These all correspond to the type of cricket matches Flintoff has bowled in. Test stands for test matches. ODI stands for one day internationals. T20Is stands for Twenty internationals. List A stands for one day matches played against club sides. First class stands for 4 or 3 day matches played against club sides. Twenty20 stands for Twenty20 matches played against club sides.

    • 4

      Work out a players bowling average by dividing the number of balls conceded to the number of wickets taken.

    • 5

      Work out a players SR (strike rate) by dividing the number of ball delivered by the number of wickets (wkts) taken.

    • 6

      Work out a players economy rate by dividing the number of balls delivered by six and then dividing the number of runs conceded by that number.

    How to Understand Batting Statistics

    • 7

      Look at Andy Flintoff's batting statistics on Cricinfo. Along the top you will see mat, inns, NO, runs, HS, ave, BF, SR, 100, 50, 4s, 6s, Ct and St.

    • 8

      Understand the headings across the top. Mat stands for matches played. Inns stand for innings batted in. NO stands for not out and is the amount of times he has still hasn't been gotten out by the end of an innings. Runs is the amount of runs he has scored. HS stands for the highest score he has made. Ave stands for the number of runs he has made per innings. SR stands the average number of runs he has scored per 100 balls. 100 is the number of centuries he has made. 50 is the number of half centuries he has as made. 4s is the number of fours he has struck. 6s is the number of sixes a batsmen has struck. Ct is the number of catches he has taken in the field. St (applies to wicket keepers only) stands for the number of stumping he has made.

    • 9

      To work out an average of the batsmen, minus the number of not outs by the number of innings played and then divide the number of runs scored by that total.