How to Read a Cricket Scorecard — Batting, Bowling & Extras

A cricket scorecard is the official record of a match, showing exactly how every batter was dismissed and how every bowler performed. Reading a scorecard fluently is a core cricket literacy skill — it allows you to reconstruct how a match unfolded at a glance without watching a single ball.

The Batting Section

Each batting line lists: the batter's name, how they were dismissed (e.g. c Smith b Jones = caught by Smith, bowled by Jones), their runs scored, the balls they faced, the number of fours hit, the number of sixes hit, and their strike rate. Batters who were not out have a * next to their name. The bottom of the batting section shows extras (wides, no-balls, byes, leg-byes) and the team's total (e.g. 287/8 = 287 runs, 8 wickets lost).

V Kohli   c Warner b Hazlewood   83   112   7   0   74.1
Reading: Virat Kohli was caught by David Warner off Josh Hazlewood's bowling. He scored 83 runs from 112 balls, hit 7 fours, 0 sixes, at a strike rate of 74.1.

The Bowling Section

The bowling section shows each bowler's figures: Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets. An entry of 12-2-45-3 means the bowler bowled 12 overs, 2 of which were maidens, gave away 45 runs, and took 3 wickets. Economy rate (runs ÷ overs) and bowling average (runs ÷ wickets) can be calculated from these figures.

Fall of Wickets

The 'Fall of Wickets' section (FOW) shows at what team score each wicket fell. For example: 1/45, 2/67, 3/89 means the first wicket fell when the team score was 45, the second at 67, and the third at 89. The FOW allows you to see whether the innings collapsed suddenly or built steadily, and to identify partnerships by subtracting successive fall-of-wicket scores.