How to Read a Cricket Scorecard

By the Live Cricket Zone editorial team · Last reviewed 17 September 2026

A cricket scorecard packs a whole match into a couple of tables, and once you know the conventions it reads faster than any commentary. This guide walks through a card from top to bottom: the innings total, the batting card, extras, the fall of wickets, the bowling card and the result line.

The innings total

A total such as 287/6 (50 ov) means the side scored 287 runs, lost six wickets and faced 50 overs. If all ten wickets fall the card usually reads 198 all out or 198 (43.2 ov) with no wicket figure. The overs figure counts complete overs and then balls, so 43.2 is 43 overs and two balls, not 43.2 overs in decimal. Australian scorecards reverse the order and write wickets first, so 6/287 in an Australian source is the same score as 287/6 elsewhere. In a Test or first-class match each side has up to two innings and the card shows all four, with declared (or dec) after a total the batting captain closed voluntarily.

The batting card

Batters are listed in the order they came in. Each row shows how the batter was dismissed, then the columns R (runs), B (balls faced), 4s, 6s and SR (strike rate, runs per 100 balls). An asterisk or the word not out means the batter was still in when the innings ended; retired hurt means they left injured and could return; retired out means they left voluntarily and cannot. Batters who did not get to bat appear at the bottom as did not bat or dnb.

The dismissal column uses a compact notation. b Anderson means bowled by Anderson. c Smith b Anderson means caught by Smith off Anderson's bowling. c & b Anderson means the bowler took the catch himself. lbw b Anderson is leg before wicket. st Foakes b Leach is stumped by the wicketkeeper Foakes off Leach. run out (Root/Foakes) names the fielder who threw and the player who broke the stumps. hit wicket b Wood means the batter broke their own wicket while playing at Wood's delivery. The rarer methods, obstructing the field, hit the ball twice and timed out, are written out in full. Our guide to the ten ways of getting out explains each.

Extras

Runs that are not credited to a batter are listed as extras: b (byes, runs taken when the ball passes the batter without contact), lb (leg byes, runs taken after the ball hits the batter's body), w (wides), nb (no-balls) and occasionally pen (five-run penalties). Wides and no-balls are debited to the bowler; byes and leg byes are not, which is why a bowler's runs conceded in the bowling card can be lower than the runs scored off their overs. Adding the batters' runs and the extras gives the innings total.

Fall of wickets

The fall of wickets line, often abbreviated FOW, records the team score when each wicket fell and who was out: 1-23 (Duckett, 5.4 ov), 2-71 (Crawley, 15.1 ov) and so on. Reading it shows the shape of an innings at a glance, whether a side collapsed in a heap or lost wickets at even intervals. Many cards also show partnerships, the runs added between each pair of batters, which tells you who did the damage together.

The bowling card

Each bowler's row shows O (overs bowled), M (maidens: overs in which no runs were scored off the bat or as wides and no-balls), R (runs conceded), W (wickets), Econ (economy rate: runs conceded per over) and usually wd and nb counts. A bowler's figures are often quoted as wickets-for-runs, so 3-45 or 3/45 means three wickets for 45 runs. In a limited-overs match the overs column also tells you whether a bowler completed their allowance: ten in an ODI, four in a T20. Our guide to batting average, strike rate and economy explains how the rate figures are calculated.

The result line

The wording of the result tells you which side batted second. India won by 45 runs means India batted first and the chasing side fell 45 short. England won by 4 wickets (with 11 balls remaining) means England chased successfully with four wickets still in hand and 11 legal deliveries unused. In Test cricket a side that wins without needing to bat a second time won by an innings and 63 runs. A tie means the scores finished level, which in most limited-overs competitions is then settled by a Super Over. No result means weather prevented the minimum overs, abandoned means no play was possible, and match drawn applies only to timed formats where the match ran out of time. A result marked (DLS method) means the target was revised for rain; see the DLS guide.

Other things you may see

  • Toss: which captain won and what they chose. Choosing to field is written as "elected to bowl".
  • Player of the Match: the adjudicators' award, usually shown at the top of the card.
  • Umpires and referee: the on-field umpires, the TV umpire and the match referee.
  • Current run rate (CRR) and required run rate (RRR) appear on live cards: runs per over so far, and runs per over the chasing side needs from the remaining overs.
  • Projected score on a live card is simply the current run rate extended to the end of the innings; it is a rough guide, not a prediction.
Worked example. A card reads: Kohli c Carey b Cummins 54 (63) 4x4 1x6 SR 85.71. Kohli scored 54 from 63 balls including four fours and one six, was caught by wicketkeeper Carey off the bowling of Cummins, and scored at 85.71 runs per 100 balls (54 ÷ 63 × 100).