How current run rate is calculated

Current run rate, usually shortened to CRR, is the average number of runs a side has scored per over so far. The conventional way to write it is runs divided by overs, and that is fine when the over count is whole. It stops being fine the moment the innings is part way through an over, which is most of the time.

Cricket writes overs in base six. Fourteen overs and two balls is written 14.2, but that is 86 balls, not 14.2 overs. Dividing runs by 14.2 gives a run rate that is slightly but consistently wrong, and the error grows the further into an over you are. This calculator converts the entry to balls first and works in balls throughout, which is why the figure here matches the broadcast graphic exactly.

Projected score, and why it is only a benchmark

The projected score simply extends the current rate across the whole innings: current run rate multiplied by the innings length. It answers a narrow question — where does this innings finish if nothing changes — and nothing ever stays the same. Twenty-over innings are shaped rather than flat. Powerplay overs with the field up score faster, middle overs slow down, and the last four or five overs commonly produce a third of the total. A side on 118 after fourteen overs projects to 169, but a T20 side with wickets in hand usually finishes well beyond its fourteen-over projection.

The reverse is also true. A side that has been becalmed but has lost seven wickets will often fall short of its projection, because the rate it has managed so far was set by batters who are no longer there. Read the projection alongside the wickets column, never on its own.

Current rate versus required rate

When a target is entered, this page also shows the required rate and the gap between the two. That gap is the single most useful number during a chase. A negative gap means the side is scoring faster than the target demands and the pressure sits with the bowling team. A positive and widening gap means the chase is drifting, and the longer it widens the more the remaining runs get compressed into fewer balls at a steeper rate. For a full chase view with wickets, boundary combinations and an over-by-over line, use the required run rate calculator.

Run rate is not net run rate

Current run rate describes one innings. Net run rate is a tournament figure that compares the rate a team scores at across a whole competition against the rate it concedes, and it carries specific rules — a side bowled out is treated as having faced its full quota of overs, for instance. That calculation lives in the net run rate calculator.

Common questions

What does 14.2 overs mean in this calculator?

Fourteen completed overs plus two balls, which is 86 balls faced. Only the digits 0 to 5 are valid after the decimal point.

How is projected score worked out?

Current run rate multiplied by the total overs in the innings. It assumes the current pace continues unchanged, which is why it usually understates a T20 total when wickets are in hand.

What is a good run rate in a T20?

Anything from eight an over upwards puts a side on course for a competitive total in twenty-over cricket, though what counts as competitive shifts with the ground, the pitch and the competition. In an ODI, five to six an over through the middle overs is a normal platform.

Can I use this while bowling?

Yes. Enter the runs conceded and the overs bowled and the figure produced is the economy rate of the bowling side across those overs, which is the same calculation viewed from the other end.