Bowling Average Calculator

What the bowling average calculator does

A bowler's average tells you how many runs it costs them to take a wicket, and it is one of the oldest measures of how good a bowler is. This tool works it out. You give it the runs a bowler has conceded and the wickets they have taken, and it returns the bowling average, the runs per wicket.

It is a clean way to compare bowlers across a spell, a series, or a whole career, as long as you remember one thing that runs opposite to most people's instincts, which is the heart of this page.

How to use it

1. Enter the runs conceded. The runs the bowler has given away.
2. Enter the wickets taken. The number of wickets they have claimed.

Press Calculate for the bowling average, or Reset to clear the boxes.

How bowling average is worked out

It is runs divided by wickets:

Bowling average = runs conceded ÷ wickets taken

So a bowler who has conceded 240 runs and taken 10 wickets has a bowling average of 24, meaning each wicket cost them 24 runs. The fewer runs it costs to take a wicket, the better the bowler is doing, which is the part worth slowing down for.

An example with real numbers

Say a bowler has conceded 240 runs and taken 10 wickets in a series.

• Bowling average = 240 ÷ 10 = 24.0

So each wicket cost 24 runs. In Test cricket, a bowling average around 24 is the mark of a genuinely good bowler, and the all-time greats sit lower still, often in the low twenties. A bowler averaging in the thirties is more expensive for every wicket they take.

Lower is better, which catches people out

Here is the thing people get backwards. With a batting average, a bigger number is better, because it is runs you make. With a bowling average it is the reverse, because it is runs you give away. A bowling average is a cost, the price in runs of each wicket, so the lower it is, the better the bowler.

So a bowler averaging 20 is doing better than one averaging 30, even though 20 is the smaller number. It is the same word, average, pointing in the opposite direction, and that is the single most common confusion with this stat. When you read a bowler's average, read it as a price, and remember you want the price to be low.

The three ways to measure a bowler

Bowling average is one of three figures that together describe a bowler, and they answer different questions.

• Bowling average, the one here, is runs per wicket. It captures a bowler's overall value, blending how often they strike with how much they cost.
• Economy rate is runs per over. It measures containment, how well a bowler keeps the scoring down, which matters most in the shorter formats.
• Bowling strike rate is balls per wicket. It measures how often a bowler strikes, regardless of cost, which is prized in Test cricket where taking twenty wickets wins matches.

Which one matters most depends on the format. In a T20, economy is often king, since stopping runs is half the battle. In a Test, the strike rate and the average carry more weight, because the job is to take wickets. This tool gives you the average, the broadest of the three.

Questions people ask

How do you calculate bowling average?

Divide the runs conceded by the wickets taken. A bowler who has given away 240 runs for 10 wickets has an average of 24.

Is a lower or higher bowling average better?

Lower is better. The average is the runs it costs to take each wicket, so a smaller number means a more effective, less expensive bowler. This is the opposite of a batting average.

What is a good bowling average?

In Test cricket, an average around the low to mid twenties marks a very good bowler, with the all-time greats often below that. The figure is judged against the format and era a bowler played in.

What is the difference between average and economy?

Average is runs per wicket, a measure of overall value. Economy is runs per over, a measure of how well a bowler keeps the run rate down. A bowler can be economical without taking many wickets, or take wickets while conceding freely.