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How to Read a Cricket Scorecard: A Fantasy Beginner’s Guide
Drem Pavilion 4 min read
A cricket scorecard is the written record of an innings: one line for each batter, one for each bowler and a few totals underneath. Read properly, it tells you who scored the runs, how quickly, and who took the wickets, which is exactly what a fantasy contest pays for.
If you are new to fantasy cricket, this is the cheapest research there is. Every player’s recent matches are sitting in public scorecards, and ten minutes with them beats an hour of opinions.
The batting card, column by column
| Column | Stands for | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| R | Runs | How many the batter scored |
| B | Balls | How many deliveries the batter faced |
| 4s, 6s | Fours and sixes | How many boundaries are inside those runs |
| SR | Strike rate | Runs per 100 balls: R ÷ B × 100 |
| Text after the name | How out | The way the innings ended and who was involved |
How to read the dismissal
The words between a batter’s name and the runs are a small code. The letter “c” introduces the fielder who took a catch, and “b” the bowler who gets credit for the wicket.
| On the card | In words |
|---|---|
| c Menon b Iyer | Caught by Menon off the bowling of Iyer |
| b Nair | Bowled by Nair: the ball hit the stumps |
| lbw b Iyer | Leg before wicket, with Iyer bowling |
| c & b Nair | Caught by Nair off his or her own bowling |
| st †Khan b Thomas | Stumped by the wicketkeeper Khan off Thomas |
| run out (Menon) | Run out, with Menon the fielder; no bowler gets the wicket |
| not out | Still batting when the innings ended |
Two marks sit beside names on most cards: a dagger (†) for the wicketkeeper and “(c)” for the captain.
Extras, total and fall of wickets
- Extras are runs that belong to no batter: byes (b), leg byes (lb), wides (w) and no-balls (nb).
- Total is written as runs for wickets, with the overs used. 164/5 (20 overs) means 164 runs, five batters out, twenty overs faced.
- Fall of wickets lists the score at which each batter was out. “1-14 (Rao, 2.3 ov)” says the first wicket fell at 14, when Rao was out in the third over.
- Did not bat names the players who were never needed. For fantasy, that line matters as much as the big scores.
Overs are not decimals. 2.3 means two complete overs and three balls.
The bowling card
| Column | Stands for | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| O | Overs | How much the bowler bowled; in a T20 the limit is four |
| M | Maidens | Overs in which no run was conceded |
| R | Runs | Runs conceded, wides and no-balls included |
| W | Wickets | Batters dismissed by this bowler |
| Econ | Economy rate | Runs conceded per over: R ÷ O |
A worked example: one T20 innings
The card below is invented for practice. The names are made up, and the numbers add up the way a real card does.
| Batter | How out | R | B | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rao | c Menon b Iyer | 8 | 10 | 80.0 |
| Das | b Nair | 61 | 40 | 152.5 |
| Pillai | run out (Menon) | 24 | 24 | 100.0 |
| Bose | not out | 43 | 26 | 165.4 |
| Reddy | c †Khan b Nair | 5 | 7 | 71.4 |
| Joseph | lbw b Iyer | 2 | 5 | 40.0 |
| Sinha | not out | 9 | 8 | 112.5 |
Extras 12 (lb 4, w 8). Total 164/5 in 20 overs. Did not bat: four players.
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | Econ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iyer | 4 | 0 | 28 | 2 | 7.00 |
| Nair | 4 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 7.75 |
| Menon | 4 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 9.00 |
| Thomas | 4 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 6.75 |
| Verma | 4 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 9.50 |
Check the card against itself. The batters’ runs come to 152, and 12 extras make 164. The bowlers conceded 160, because the four leg byes are charged to nobody. Four wickets went to bowlers and the fifth was a run out.
What a fantasy beginner should take from it
- Balls faced come first. Das faced 40 of the 120 balls, a third of the innings. Runs can only come from balls, so the batters who face the most have the most chances.
- Strike rate separates similar stays. Pillai made 24 from 24 balls. Bose made 43 from 26. On the same pitch, Bose was the one scoring freely.
- “Not out” needs a second look. Sinha finished 9 not out, but from only eight balls at number seven. A good player in a slot that gets few deliveries has little room to score.
- Bowlers are judged on two columns. Iyer and Nair took two wickets each. Thomas took none and was still the most economical, at 6.75 an over.
- Fielders hide in the dismissal column. Menon held a catch and made a run out; Khan took a catch behind the stumps. A scorecard has no fielding table, so this is where you find it.
How many points each of these is worth depends on the platform. On Drem the Points System page is only visible after login, so read it there and then look at scorecards with those values in mind. The fantasy section itself is described on our Drem games page.
A ten-minute routine before you pick a team
- Pull up the scorecards of each side’s last three matches.
- For batters, write down the batting position and the balls faced, not only the runs.
- For bowlers, note who bowled the full quota of overs and who took wickets.
- Read the fall of wickets. A side that keeps losing three early wickets gives its middle order more balls.
- Look at the “did not bat” line for players you were about to pick.
- Compare all of this with the line-ups announced for the match you are entering.
A scorecard records what happened; it cannot promise what will. Fantasy contests cost money to enter, so decide the amount before you look at any prize pool. New to the platform? Our first-week plan puts a small fantasy contest on day five, after the reading is done.
Frequently asked questions
What does SR mean on a cricket scorecard?
SR is strike rate, the number of runs a batter scores per 100 balls. Divide runs by balls faced and multiply by 100, so 61 runs from 40 balls is a strike rate of 152.5.
What do c and b mean in a scorecard?
The letter c names the fielder who took the catch and b names the bowler credited with the wicket. “c Menon b Iyer” means caught by Menon off Iyer’s bowling, and “c & b” means the bowler also took the catch.
What is economy rate in cricket?
Economy rate is the average number of runs a bowler concedes per over. A bowler who gives away 28 runs in 4 overs has an economy rate of 7.00.
What does 164/5 mean in cricket?
It means the batting side scored 164 runs and lost 5 wickets. The overs used are usually shown beside it in brackets.
