Overs ↔ balls
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| Top pick | Cricket Scorebook (Official) | Record overs and balls correctly ball by ball. Standard club format. | Check price → |
| Option | Manual Cricket Counter (Umpire) | Click counter for tracking balls per over. Trusted by umpires worldwide. | Check price → |
| Option | Cricket Statistics Handbook | Reference for overs notation, rates and scoring conventions. | Check price → |
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Frequently asked questions
Why not just use decimals?
Because cricket's over notation is base-6, not base-10. 18.3 overs means 18 complete overs and 3 balls — not 18.3 overs as a decimal. Treating it as a normal decimal produces a meaningless result in run-rate calculations. The correct decimal equivalent of 18.3 overs is 18.5 (= 18 + 3/6).
How do I calculate run rate from overs in cricket notation?
Convert the over-notation figure to a true decimal first. For example, 32.4 overs = 32 + 4/6 = 32.667 decimal overs. Then divide runs scored by that decimal figure. If a team scored 180 runs in 32.4 overs, the run rate is 180 ÷ 32.667 = 5.51 runs per over.
What is a legal over in cricket?
A standard over consists of 6 legal deliveries. Wides and no-balls are not counted as legal deliveries and must be rebowled — so an over can contain more than 6 actual balls if extras occur. The over count only increments when 6 legal deliveries have been bowled.
How many balls are in different cricket formats?
Test cricket has no fixed over limit. One Day Internationals (ODIs) are 50 overs per side = 300 legal deliveries. Twenty20 (T20) matches are 20 overs per side = 120 legal deliveries. The Hundred format uses 100 balls per side (bowled in 10-ball sets rather than 6-ball overs).
What does DLS target mean and why do overs matter?
The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method is used to recalculate targets in rain-affected matches. The method accounts for both the number of overs remaining and wickets in hand. Accurate over conversion is essential when applying DLS, because the system uses decimal overs in its calculations rather than cricket notation.