Records and Statistics

Average uses dismissals, not innings, as the divisor, so an innings ended by a declaration or the match finishing rather than a dismissal is not counted against the batter.

Source: ICC · recall

Because not-out innings do not count as dismissals, having more of them shrinks the average's divisor while the total runs stay the same, pushing the average up.

Source: ICC · applied

Strike rate expresses how quickly a batter scores per hundred balls faced, unlike average, which measures how many runs a dismissal typically costs the bowling side.

Source: ICC · recall

Dividing 60 runs by 40 balls gives 1.5, and multiplying by a hundred gives a strike rate of 150, meaning the batter scored at one and a half runs per ball on average.

Source: ICC · applied

A long Test innings values survival and accumulating runs before getting out, while a short T20 innings values scoring quickly within a fixed number of balls, so the two statistics reward different skills.

Source: ICC · applied

Test cricket's unlimited overs and its emphasis on not getting out make average, rather than strike rate, the traditional headline batting statistic.

Source: ICC · recall

An average is a runs-per-dismissal figure, so "over fifty" means the batter has typically been worth more than fifty runs each time they were out, nothing about matches played or centuries.

Source: ICC · applied

The average only measures what happened when a batter was actually got out, so an innings where they remained not out is simply left out of that side of the calculation.

Source: ICC · recall

A string of small not-out scores can inflate a tail-ender's average well above what their actual scoring ability would suggest, a well-known limitation of using average alone.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Average shows how many runs a dismissal typically costs, while strike rate shows how quickly those runs come; used together they describe both a batter's consistency and their tempo.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Bowling average expresses how many runs a bowler typically concedes per wicket, the opposite direction from a batting average, so a lower bowling average is better.

Source: ICC · recall

A lower bowling average means fewer runs were conceded for each wicket taken, which is why bowling average falls as performance improves, unlike batting average.

Source: ICC · applied

Economy rate measures how many runs a bowler leaks per over, which is why it matters most in limited-overs cricket, where every over is scarce.

Source: ICC · recall

Dividing 48 runs by 8 overs gives an economy rate of exactly 6 runs conceded per over, regardless of how many wickets were taken in that spell.

Source: ICC · applied

Bowling strike rate shows, on average, how many balls a bowler needs to take one wicket, so a lower figure means wickets come more frequently.

Source: ICC · recall

Strike rate and average measure different things, so a bowler can take wickets faster in terms of balls bowled while still conceding a similar number of runs per wicket as a slower-striking bowler.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Because a limited-overs bowler has a fixed number of overs to defend, economy rate, runs conceded per over, is the figure that most directly shows how well they contained scoring.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

A lower strike rate of 40 balls per wicket, against 55, means the pace bowler in this example is taking wickets more often per ball bowled, regardless of what their averages show.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Every one of the three figures is some pairing of runs conceded, balls or overs bowled and wickets taken, just divided in a different order to answer a different question.

Source: ICC · recall

Strike rate is specifically about the pace of wicket-taking measured in balls bowled, separate from average, which is about the cost in runs per wicket.

Source: ICC · applied

Brian Lara made 400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004, the highest individual score in Test history.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

Sachin Tendulkar's career Test run total, built over more than two decades, remains the highest in the format's history.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's career Test wicket total is the highest ever recorded, ahead of Shane Warne in second place.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

Batting and bowling are separate disciplines measured by separate statistics, so the leading run-scorer and the leading wicket-taker in Test history are both landmark records in their own right.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Jim Laker famously took all ten wickets in an innings against Australia in 1956, a feat later matched by India's Anil Kumble in 1999.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

New Zealand's Brendon McCullum reached his century off 54 balls in 2016, the fastest hundred by deliveries faced in Test history.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

The fastest-century record is purely about balls faced to reach exactly a hundred runs, independent of how long the rest of that innings or the match went on.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

India's Rohit Sharma made 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014, the highest individual score recorded in a men's ODI innings.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

South Africa's AB de Villiers reached a hundred off 31 balls against West Indies in 2015, the fastest men's ODI century on record.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

Some landmark records, such as Lara's 400 not out from 2004, have stood for two decades or more, showing records are not simply rewritten every few years just because the game evolves.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · applied

Sri Lanka declared on 952 for 6 against India in Colombo in 1997, the highest total ever recorded in a Test innings.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

New Zealand were bowled out for just 26 against England in 1955, the lowest total in Test match history.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

With no overs limit, a dominant batting side in a Test can simply keep batting and choose when to declare, which is how totals far beyond any limited-overs score become possible.

Source: ICC · applied

England reached 498 for 4 against the Netherlands in 2022, the highest total recorded in a men's ODI innings.

Source: ESPNcricinfo records · recall

Both a record-high total and a record-low total are simply the most extreme entries at either end of runs scored in one team innings.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

An unlimited number of overs lets a dominant side pile up a huge score, while a collapsing side can just as easily be bowled out very cheaply, producing far wider extremes than a fixed-overs format allows.

Source: ICC · applied

If the trailing side is dismissed twice for fewer runs than the leading side's first innings, the match ends early and the margin is expressed as an innings win, a result structure that does not exist in one-innings formats.

Source: ICC · applied

A chasing side that reaches its target wins by however many wickets it has left in hand, while the side that defends a total and bowls the opposition out or restricts them wins by a run margin instead.

Source: ICC · recall

A format giving a side up to two unlimited-over innings cannot be sensibly compared on raw totals with one capping a side at twenty overs, since the available batting time is completely different.

Source: ICC · applied

A captain can declare an innings closed at any point, keeping enough time to bowl the opposition out, which is why some of the largest totals in history were team choices rather than the side simply running out of batters.

Source: ICC · recall

Net run rate aggregates a team's scoring rate and conceding rate across every match in the stage and takes the difference, rather than looking at any single game in isolation.

Source: ICC playing conditions · recall

Since teams are already level on points, net run rate breaks the tie by looking at the combined scoring and conceding rates across the whole stage, not at wins or matches played.

Source: ICC playing conditions · applied

Because net run rate rewards scoring quickly and conceding slowly across the whole tournament, a team can deliberately pad its rate late in a comfortable win, a tactic captains are known to use.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Average alone hides whether wickets came cheaply but slowly, or expensively but quickly, which is why economy rate and strike rate are checked alongside it for a fuller picture.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Pitch preparation, bat technology, fielding restrictions and the strength of opposition attacks have all changed markedly over decades, so a raw average comparison across eras can be misleading.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

A bowler who played many more matches has more opportunities to add to a raw wicket total, so average and strike rate, which adjust for opportunity, are usually checked alongside the total itself.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Total runs shows volume, average shows consistency measured against dismissals, and strike rate shows tempo, three separate angles on the same batting record.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

In a group with several teams tied on points, some pairs may not have played each other at all in that stage, so a rate calculated across all matches gives every tied team a usable, comparable figure.

Source: ICC playing conditions · applied

Every one of these statistics is some combination of runs scored or conceded and deliveries, overs, wickets or matches, just arranged to highlight a different aspect of performance.

Source: ICC · recall

Average, strike rate, economy rate and net run rate were each built to answer a specific question, and reading a performance fairly usually means checking several of them together rather than picking just one.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied