How To Score A Cricket Match

These are the main symbols used when scoring a match. For completeness, every ball and what happened is recorded, once in the section for batsman and then against the appropriate bowler. This detailed input means the story of the game can be told via the score book. Coaches can tell which bowlers a batsman struggled against or if their team gave away too many runs. When done well a cricket score book will allow you to play back the game, ball by ball.

To aid with this 'story telling' scorers will often use a different coloured pen for each bowler. This is optional but does make the book easier to read and more aesthetically pleasing to look at. If you do use colours the recommended pen is the Fineliner Porous Point Pen (see below in the Amazon section).

As you open up your brand new score book you'll see that the page is divided up into different sections. There is an area to write down the match details, normally at the top of the page. This will include the teams playing, date, location, weather and information regarding who won the toss and whether or not they batted or fielded first. Some books will also ask you to record information about the state of the pitch and the time the game started. As always with scoring, fill in as much as you're able to.

The next main section concerns the batting side. Here there is space to record the names of the various batsmen, number of runs scored and how they were out. Room is also given to record the name of the bowler taking the wicket and the total score of the batsman. You may need to record the number of balls faced and the length of time the batsmen was out in the middle for (in minutes).

At the bottom of the page you'll find an area dedicated to recording what the bowlers get up to. Like the batting section, the bowlers name will need to be added. From here each ball bowled will be noted (more about this later) in sets of six. Why six at a time? Well, that is the natural length of an over. At the far side of this page you'll find boxes where you can record the final bowling figures. Here you'll be able to quickly glance at the number of overs bowled, number of maidens, wickets taken and runs conceded.

Elsewhere on the page you find section for recording extras (runs scored but not attributed to a batsman), information regarding wickets and when they fell, the running score total (cumulative score) and over by over information. There may also be miscellaneous boxes which can be used to record details such as the time intervals occurred, names of the umpires/scorers and the final outcome of the match.

Though it looks complicated, a simple and logical approach is all it takes. First we will take a look at the batting columns in more detail.

This section is one of the easiest to fill in but also one of the most important as it gives basic match information. As you can hopefully see, this area records the names of the teams playing (in this example Warborough & Shillingford who were playing against Reading University Staff). It also records the location of the match - at Warborough Green.

Further information includes the date the game was played, the weather conditions, names of umpires and scorers and who won the toss (although here it has been used to record the final match out). One final piece of information is the area which records the batting side. As you can see for particular score sheet is showing the innings of Warborough & Shillingford.

Although none of this information actually needs to be recorded (save for the team names) it does come in useful. For example, the weather details can provide evidence of what was occurring weather wise on that given day for example. Indeed, cricket score books have been used for this purpose. They also serve as historical records in terms of playing personal which can be fascinating to look at, especially if a player went on to become famous (or even infamous).

It is also worth noting that different books will ask for different information. Some will ask for details about the pitch (good, bad, dry, damp etc) or may want start and finish times. The more you can fill in, the more vivid the story you are telling!

As I have talked about elsewhere in this lens, a cricket score book is not just a record of the game but also of history. With this in mind the next section we're looking at is pretty important - the names of the batting side. You'll see in the example picture that all names have been entered clearly, in a first name/surname format. Some people like to only put initials, others simply the surname; all are correct in their own way.

If you look down the you'll see batsman have additional symbols next to their names. The + sign indicates the player kept wicket for the game, whilst the * denotes the captain (or skipper) for that side. Each batsman has also been assigned a colour, which, although not used when they are batting will be used when bowling (I'll explain more in the bowling section).

The final information recorded here is the time that each batsman entered and left the pitch (or to use cricket speak was 'In' and 'Out'). We can see that Bradshaw batted for 37 minutes, whilst Thompson was in for less than a minute. The total time a batsman remains at the crease is recorded elsewhere.

This area is for recording what happens to the individual batsman during an innings. If you revert back to the picture of the full score book you will see that the section I've isolated sits next to the names section. So, as there are 11 batsman this section has 22 lines (2 per batsman) for you, the scorer, to record what the batsman does. A range of symbols are used in order to tell the story of the innings; although we have covered them above I'll recap briefly here:

Dot - used when no runs/extras are scored
Number (1,2,3,4,5,6 etc) - when the batsman scores a run
Plus Sign - denotes a wide ball
Circle - Denotes a no ball
Triangles - either a bye or leg bye
W - wicket, meaning the batsman is out

The chevrons indicate the end of the innings and point you towards the next section which records the dismissal details.

The next section highlighted is the dismissal section. This is where information about the manner of dismissal is recorded as well as the names of those players involved (generally the bowler and fielder).

The first column will always contain the manner of dismissal. These are, in order of likelihood:

Caught
Bowled
Leg Before Wicket
Caught and Bowled (the bowler takes a catch of his own bowling)
Run Out
Stumped
Hit Wicket
Retired
Hit Ball Twice
Handled the Ball
Obstructing the Field
Timed Out

Looking at our sheet we can see that 5 batsman were caught (including two caught and bowled), 3 were bowled and there was a single LBW and run out . The number 10 batsman was not out, which is also recorded.

The name of the bowler taking the wicket is also added. In this innings Zia took four wickets, Main three, Jagesh two. Some methods of dismissal, such as run outs are not credited to the bowler, so a name is not included.

Finally we come to the innings break down. This details the number of balls faced, length of time at the crease and also how many boundaries the batsman scored. It is worth noting that when counting balls faced only legal deliveries count, so although wides and no balls are added into the analysis they are not counted towards the final ball faced total.

To help make this clearer lets look at of the batsman in detail, in this example we'll pick on the number 4 batsman, Sean Whitty.

We can see straight away that he only faced two bowlers - Main and Ul Haq. We can tell this by looking at the colour pen used to add in the detail and then looking at the bowlers names to see which colour they were allocated. If we follow the details we can see that Whitty received the following balls:

Coming new to the crease Whitty was facing Main. He received 3 dot balls which were followed by a wide ball. Off the fifth ball he faced he scored a single, which took him off strike. The next set of symbols show that he next faced Ul Haq for a total of two balls, one dot and then a single run off the bat. Whitty's next game action came against Main as he faced another 5 balls, of which three were dots. The other two balls saw two runs scored off the bat and then a single. Finally, Whitty faced two further balls from Ul Haq, the first of which was a dot followed by a 'W' which means he was out and his innings ended.

Moving on to the dismissals section we can quickly see the mode of his demise - bowled by Ul Haq. In total Whitty scored 5 runs, and faced 13 balls in total. By referring back to the name section we can also tell he was at the crease for 14 minutes. We can also quickly see that he did not manage to hit any boundaries.

As you can see, the symbols and colours used allow us to tell exactly what happened to Whitty during his innings. We know how many runs he scored, who bowled to him and any additionally information (such as wides/no balls). A fair bit of information I'd say!

One area not touched upon here is the number of runs Whitty added in combination with other batsmen. This is recorded elsewhere on the sheet and will be covered later. For the record though, he managed to advance the score by 14 run while batting with Martinus.

Much like for the batting section, I've broken the score book into blocks.

Red 1 is very simple and is where you record the names of any umpires and the scorers. For your average club game this can probably be ignored. However, representative level games will more than likely need this added.

The blue area is where the bowler's name is added. Much like in the corresponding batsman column you can either enter first initial followed by surname or both first name and surname. Some books also have an area for you to note the bowler's action (such as right or left handed). Next up the bowlers analysis area and where it gets interesting!

The bowlers analysis area is where every ball bowled is recorded. You'll use the same symbols as shown above, so a dot ball is represent by a dot, a run by a number, a wide by a cross and so on. Everything that happens during the game is recorded here. Each box will hold 6 balls, which in turn make up an over. At the bottom of each over 'box' there is space to record the number of runs conceded in that over plus the number of wickets.

After the game you will need to tally up the figures to give an easy to digest 'total', which is what the white boxed area is showing. You will be able to quickly glance at the total number of overs bowled, maidens (where no run is scored, coincidently noted in the book by joining the dots up to form a M shape), number of runs given away and wickets taken. Generally this information is very important as it gives an indication of well a player is performing.

Red area 2 is a used for general notes, such as rain delays or when tea was taken. Pretty much anything that happens which you feel should be noted!

Red area 3 gives an indication of how fast the batting side is scoring runs at. For each landmark (50, 100, 150 etc) you should record the number of balls taken as well as the length of time in minutes. Whilst not vital it does add to the story.

Red area 4 is where the final tallies are added in, after being double checked of course! The final score should read in this format - runs scored for wickets lost (i.e 250-8).

Finally, red area 5 is space to provide information on who won the game and by what margin. There is also space to add in league points if needed.

That pretty much covers it from the bowling point view - below is an example of a completed score sheet.

This is what a completed score book may look like - not the use of colours and the fact that only the essential areas have been filled in.

If you look closely you'll also see a few 'M' shapes in the bowling section, denoting a maiden over.