Cricket - Statistics

Statistics

Organized cricket lends itself to statistics to a greater degree than many other sports. Each play is discrete and has a relatively small number of possible outcomes. At the professional level, statistics for Test cricket, one-day internationals, and first-class cricket are recorded separately. However, since Test matches are a form of first-class cricket, a player's first-class statistics will include his Test match statistics—but not vice versa. The Guide to Cricketers was a cricket annual edited by Fred Lillywhite between 1849 and his death in 1866. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was founded in 1864 by the English cricketer John Wisden (1826–1884) as a competitor to The Guide to Cricketers. Its annual publication has continued uninterrupted to the present day, making it the longest running sports annual in history.

Certain traditional statistics are familiar to most cricket fans. The basic batting statistics include:

• Innings (I): The number of innings in which the batsman actually batted.
• Not outs (NO): The number of times the batsman was not out at the conclusion of an innings they batted in.1
• Runs (R): The number of runs scored.
• Highest score (HS/Best): The highest score ever made by the batsman.
• Batting average (Ave): The total number of runs divided by the total number of innings in which the batsman was out. Ave = Runs/ (also Avge or Avg.)
• Centuries (100): The number of innings in which the batsman scored one hundred runs or more.
• Half-centuries (50): The number of innings in which the batsman scored fifty to ninety-nine runs (centuries do not count as half-centuries as well).
• Balls faced (BF): The total number of balls received, including no balls but not including wides.
• Strike rate (SR): The number of runs scored per 100 balls faced. (SR = /BF)
• Run rate (RR): Is the number of runs a batsman (or the batting side) scores in an over of six balls.

The basic bowling statistics include:

• Overs (O): The number of overs bowled.
• Balls (B): The number of balls bowled. Overs is more traditional, but balls is a more useful statistic because the number of balls per over has varied historically.
• Maiden overs (M): The number of maiden overs (overs in which the bowler conceded zero runs) bowled.
• Runs (R): The number of runs conceded.
• Wickets (W): The number of wickets taken.
• No balls (Nb): The number of no balls bowled.
• Wides (Wd): The number of wides bowled.
• Bowling average (Ave): The average number of runs conceded per wicket. (Ave = Runs/W)
• Strike rate (SR): The average number of balls bowled per wicket. (SR = Balls/W)
• Economy rate (Econ): The average number of runs conceded per over. (Econ = Runs/overs bowled).