To follow the game action, you need to know how to read the scorecard. Here is a small guide for those who are interested in this sport, but may have been put off by a bunch of numbers and incomprehensible tables. The information is especially useful if you like betting on cricket, and if that’s the case, try reading some suggestions, such as Bookmaker Ratings’ review of bet365 account.

The first two players on the scorecard are popularly known as openers. Since the ball is still quite hard at the beginning of the inning, it bounces all over the place. The openers have to take the hit (sometimes literally). At this moment, they should not only defend themselves, but also start scoring runs.

There is a player called first drop (first to exit). Since he comes into the game after one of the openers has been eliminated, he may not have scored enough runs yet. The first drop should calm the team down and in no case should he be out after the openers. Once he gets used to it, he should start scoring runs as well.

A player called all-arounder is a player who can both bat and serve the ball well.

Bowlers are usually placed last, as they tend to bat very badly.

b [name of bowler] – the batsman is out because he broke the wicket with the bowler.

c [name of the player who caught the ball] b [name of the bowler] –the batsman is out after the defence caught the ball batted by the batsman.

Lbw [name of bowler] – the batsman was out after the ball hit leg, assuming that the ball would have hit the wicket if it had not hit leg.

st [wicketkeeper’s name] b [bowler’s name] –  the batsman went out after the wicketkeeper broke the wicket with the ball when the batsman was outside the crease. This refers to the situation where the batsman goes to the ball at the wicket but fails to hit the ball and has no time to return to the crease.

Run out [name of the player who broke the wicket] – one of the fielders destroyed the wicket while the batsmen were running and were outside the crease.

Not out – the batsman was never sent out. This is because there must always be two batsmen in play, one at each end of the wicket. However, since the team consists of eleven players, the game ends when 10 batsmen have been sent out, and the last batsman is counted as a not out.

After that comes the player’s statistics. The meaning of these columns is as follows:

R – runs – how many runs the player has made.

B – balls – how many balls were served to the player.

SR – strike rate – (runs/balls) – the percentage of balls on which the player earned a run.

Usually, under the batsmen’s statistics it is written FOW (Fall of Wicket). This reflects the situation during the innings when the particular wicket was broken.

Below are the bowlers’ statistics. Note that the bowlers’ stats are always listed below the opposing batsmen’s stats.

O – Overs – how many overs this bowler has thrown.

M – Maiden – a maiden is an over in which the bowler has not allowed the batsmen more than one run.

R – Runs – how many runs the bowler has allowed.

W – Wickets – the most important indicator: the number of batsmen the bowler has sent to the off.

E – Economy Rate – Runs/Overs – how many runs per over an average bowler allows the batsmen to bat.

Bowlers can also make mistakes. All points scored by bowler’s errors are entered as extras in the batsman’s statistics after the last batsman. Bowlers can make the following errors:

No ball is the situation when, at the time of the ball, the bowler’s front foot crosses the line of the crease. If this is the case, the referee announces a no-ball position. A wicket scored by a no-ball is not counted and the batting team is awarded a run. In one-day cricket and 20/20 cricket, the batting team is awarded a free hit.

Wide is when the ball deviates from being close to the wicket. If this is the case, the situation is the same as in no ball.

Leg bye is when the ball hits the batsman’s hip. The situation is the same as in no ball.

We hope this guide will help you understand and enjoy cricket.