How to score a cricket match: the basics
Scoring is how a match becomes a record: every run, extra and wicket written down ball by ball. This beginner's guide covers what a scorer needs to know under the current Laws of Cricket, with a full over worked through at the end.
By the Manage Cricket team · Updated
Contents
What a scorer records
For every ball the scorer writes down three things: the runs, how they were scored, and whether a wicket fell. From those entries come every batter's runs and balls faced, every bowler's overs, maidens, runs and wickets, the extras, the fall of wickets and the team's total. If two scorers keep the book, they check their totals with each other at the end of every over.
Legal balls and the over
An over is six legal balls. A wide or a no-ball is not a legal ball, so it does not count as one of the six and another ball is bowled. That is why an over can have seven, eight or more deliveries. The scorer counts only the legal balls to know when the over ends.
Extras: wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes
| Extra | What happens | Charged to the bowler? |
|---|---|---|
| Wide | 1 run, plus any runs the batters run or a boundary, all scored as wides. Not a ball faced. | Yes |
| No-ball | 1 run as a no-ball extra. Runs off the bat go to the batter. Counts as a ball faced. | Yes, the penalty and runs off the bat |
| Bye | Runs taken when the ball misses the bat and the body. | No |
| Leg bye | Runs taken off the batter's body, when trying to hit the ball or get out of its way. | No |
| Penalty runs | 5 runs for an offence such as the ball hitting a fielder's helmet left on the ground. | No |
Two details catch out new scorers. If byes or leg byes are run off a no-ball, only the one-run penalty is a no-ball extra; the rest are byes or leg byes. And if the ball is a wide and also a no-ball, the no-ball wins. Under the current Laws a ball that bounces over the batter's head, standing upright, is a wide.
The free hit
The free hit is not in the Laws of Cricket. It is a playing condition used in professional limited-overs cricket and adopted by most club and tape ball tournaments. After a no-ball, the next delivery is a free hit: the batter can only be out in the ways allowed off a no-ball, such as a run out. If the free-hit ball is itself a wide or a no-ball, the free hit carries on to the next ball. The fielders may not change places for a free hit unless the batters have changed ends. The tape ball rules guide covers the other local rules clubs add, and last man stands has its own guide.
Who is on strike
- Odd runs change the strike. After 1 or 3 runs the batters have swapped ends, so the other batter faces the next ball.
- Boundaries do not. After a four or a six the batters go back to the ends they started from.
- The over changes ends. At the end of each over the next over is bowled from the other end, so the batter at the non-striker's end usually faces next.
- Short runs are not counted. If a batter does not reach the crease when turning for another run, that run is not scored. Batters may abandon a run and go back without penalty, but a deliberate short run brings a 5-run penalty, and the fielding captain then chooses who faces the next ball.
Wickets and where the new batter goes
When the striker is caught, the not-out batter goes back to the end where they started, even if the batters crossed while the ball was in the air. So the new batter takes strike, unless the catch was the last ball of the over. This rule came into the Laws in 2022 and is still there in the current edition. The same applies when the striker is bowled, stumped, LBW, hit wicket or out for hitting the ball twice.
A run out is different: who faces next depends on whether the batters had crossed before the wicket was broken. Runs completed before a run out count, while a ball on which a batter is caught adds no runs apart from penalties. The bowler is credited with the wicket for bowled, caught, LBW, stumped and hit wicket, but not for a run out.
An over, ball by ball
Ball 1: no run. Legal ball 1. Total 0.
Ball 2: A takes a single. Legal ball 2. B is now on strike. Total 1.
Wide down the leg side, no run taken. Not a legal ball. Total 2.
Ball 3: B hits a four. Legal ball 3. B stays on strike. Total 6.
No-ball, B hits it for 2. 1 no-ball extra plus 2 runs to B. Not a legal ball, but a ball faced by B. Total 9.
Ball 4, a free hit: B hits a six. Legal ball 4. Total 15.
Ball 5: B is caught. Legal ball 5. New batter C comes in and takes strike.
Ball 6: C takes a single. Over complete: 16 runs, 1 wicket. C faces the first ball of the next over, from the other end.
Bowler: 1 over, 0 maidens, 16 runs, 1 wicket. B made 12 off 4 balls.
Scoring on your phone
Paper still works, but it is easy to lose count of legal balls or forget who is on strike. The Manage Cricket scoring app applies all of these rules for you: you tap what happened and it keeps the strike, the over, the extras and every player's figures, even with no signal, and anyone with the link can follow the live score. To print a scorecard for a match you scored on paper, use the free scorecard maker.