Batting Strike Rate and Average Calculator
Batting Strike Rate and Average Calculator
A batting average is runs per DISMISSAL, not runs per innings, so a not-out innings adds runs and no denominator. With one dismissal and 300 runs the average is 300. Strike rate here is runs per 100 balls — a bowler’s strike rate is a different quantity in different units.
Batting average and strike rate
Runs per dismissal400 runs from 9 innings with 2 not out, off 512 balls
Formula, and why the denominator is dismissals
- innings − not-outs
- completed innings, which is to say dismissals. A not-out innings contributes its runs to the numerator and nothing to the denominator, on the reasoning that the batter had not finished scoring when the innings ended, so the score is a lower bound rather than a result
- the consequence
- 300 runs with one dismissal is an average of 300, however many innings it took. A tail-ender who is often stranded not out carries an average well above their typical score, and a specialist finisher in Twenty20 cricket can carry one above 50 on scores that rarely pass 30
- undefined at zero
- with no dismissals the average does not exist. It is not infinity and it is not the total: the denominator is zero and the figure is withheld. This is a real scoreboard state for a batter who has not yet been out
- strike rate, for a batter
- runs per 100 balls faced. Higher is faster; 150 is brisk Twenty20 batting and 50 is defensive Test batting. A BOWLER’s strike rate is balls per wicket, which is a different quantity in different units and moves the opposite way
- no governing body defines these
- unlike the run rate and net run rate definitions on this site, which are printed in playing conditions, the batting average and strike rate are statistical conventions. No ICC playing condition and no Law of Cricket defines either, and the one official scorers’ manual read for this page defines a maiden over and a duck but neither of these. The convention is nonetheless universal in published records
Worked example
400 runs from 9 innings with 2 not out, off 512 balls
Completed innings = 9 − 2 = 7 dismissals
Batting average = 400 ÷ 7 = 57.14 runs per dismissal
Runs per innings = 400 ÷ 9 = 44.44, which is the ordinary mean of the nine scores. The average is 12.70 higher, and that difference is entirely the two not-outs
Strike rate = 400 × 100 ÷ 512 = 78.13 runs per 100 balls
Make one of the not-outs a dismissal and the average FALLS to 400 ÷ 8 = 50.00, on exactly the same runs. Make one more innings a not-out and it RISES to 400 ÷ 6 = 66.67
Double the runs and the dismissals and the average does not move: 800 from 18 innings with 4 not out is 800 ÷ 14 = 57.14
Set the not-outs equal to the innings and the page returns no average at all: zero dismissals, and runs per no dismissals does not exist
The same 400 runs, with the not-outs moved
| Innings | Not out | Dismissals | Average | Runs per innings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 0 | 9 | 44.44 | 44.44 |
| 9 | 1 | 8 | 50.00 | 44.44 |
| 9 | 2 | 7 | 57.14 | 44.44 |
| 9 | 4 | 5 | 80.00 | 44.44 |
| 9 | 8 | 1 | 400.00 | 44.44 |
| 9 | 9 | 0 | no average | 44.44 |
Two words, two quantities: strike rate by role
| Batter | Bowler | |
|---|---|---|
| What it counts | runs per 100 balls faced | balls bowled per wicket taken |
| Unit | runs per 100 balls | balls |
| Better is | higher | lower |
| A high figure means | fast scoring | wickets are coming slowly |
| Typical Twenty20 figure | about 130 to 150 | about 15 to 20 |
| Typical Test figure | about 45 to 60 | about 50 to 60 |
A batting average is not a mean, and that is the whole point
An arithmetic mean divides by the number of values. A batting average divides by the number of dismissals, and in cricket those are not the same thing, because an innings can end without the batter being out. A not-out innings adds its runs to the top of the fraction and nothing to the bottom. The reasoning is that the batter had not finished: 48 not out is a score that was still going somewhere when the innings ended, so treating it as a completed performance would understate what the batter was doing. Whether that is the right adjustment is an old argument; that it is the convention is not in dispute.
The arithmetic consequence is larger than people expect. On the same 400 runs from nine innings, the average is 44.44 with no not-outs, 57.14 with two and 400.00 with eight — while the mean score sits at 44.44 throughout. A batter with 300 runs and a single dismissal averages 300. That is not a quirk of the formula to be corrected; it is the formula. It is also why a tail-ender who is regularly stranded at the non-striker’s end carries an average well above any score they have made, and why comparing a middle-order average with a finisher’s average compares two different things.
At the limit the average stops existing. A batter who has never been out has runs and no dismissals, and runs divided by no dismissals is undefined — not infinite, and certainly not equal to the run total. This page withholds the figure rather than printing something, because a scorecard genuinely reaches that state: every batter reaches it in their first innings if they finish it not out, and published records leave the average column blank there too.
“Strike rate” means two different quantities in cricket, with different units, depending on whose it is. A batter’s strike rate is runs per 100 balls faced, so a higher number is better and a figure near 150 is brisk Twenty20 batting. A bowler’s strike rate is balls bowled per wicket taken, so a lower number is better and a figure near 30 is a good Test bowler. They are not on the same scale, they are not in the same units, and they do not move in the same direction. This is the commonest confusion in cricket statistics and it is worth checking which one a table means before comparing two numbers.
One thing worth being straight about: unlike the run rate and the net run rate, neither of these definitions comes from a governing body. The ICC publishes how run rate and net run rate are computed because they decide results and qualification — clauses 16.10.2 and 16.10.3 of its Men’s ODI Playing Conditions. Nothing in the Laws of Cricket or in any playing condition read for this page defines a batting average, and the official scorers’ manual consulted defines a maiden over and three kinds of duck but neither the average nor the strike rate. They are conventions of statistical practice, universal in published records and not written down by anybody with authority over the game. That is not a reason to distrust them, but it is the reason this page cites no clause number for them.
The bowling side of the same question — economy rate, bowling average and the other strike rate — is on the bowling economy, average and strike rate calculator. For team rather than individual scoring, the cricket run rate calculator is the equivalent per-over figure.
Frequently asked questions
How is a batting average calculated in cricket?
Runs divided by completed innings, where completed innings means innings minus not-outs. 400 runs from 9 innings with 2 not out is 400 ÷ 7 = 57.14, not 400 ÷ 9.
Does a not out improve your batting average?
Yes, and by a lot. The runs go into the numerator and the innings does not go into the denominator. On 400 runs from nine innings, moving from no not-outs to two takes the average from 44.44 to 57.14; eight not-outs would make it 400.00. The mean score is 44.44 in every one of those cases.
What is the batting average of someone who has never been out?
There is none. The denominator is zero, so the figure is undefined rather than infinite, and published records leave the column blank. This page withholds it too, which is why the result disappears when not-outs equal innings.
Is a batting strike rate the same as a bowling strike rate?
No. A batter’s strike rate is runs per 100 balls faced and higher is better. A bowler’s strike rate is balls bowled per wicket taken and lower is better. Different quantities, different units, opposite directions — and the same two words, which is why this is the commonest confusion in cricket statistics.
Who defines the batting average?
Nobody with authority over the game, as far as the sources read for this page go. The ICC’s playing conditions define run rate and net run rate because results turn on them; neither they nor the MCC’s Laws define a batting average. It is a convention of statistical practice — universally followed, but not a rule.
Related calculators
References
- New South Wales Cricket Umpires’ and Scorers’ Association. Cricket Scoring: The Basics and Beyond, revised February 2021 — an over is six legal deliveries, wides and no-balls excluded; “Maiden over — when a bowler bowls an over that does not have any runs scored off it”. The scorebook layouts in this manual are images and were not read. nswcusa.cricketnsw.com.au (read 12 Oct 2026).
- International Cricket Council. Men’s ODI Playing Conditions, clause 16: The Result — 16.3.1 (a tie is equal scores with all innings complete, regardless of wickets lost), 16.10.1 (the tiebreaker order: wins, then head-to-head, then bonus points, then net run rate), 16.10.2 (net run rate, and the full quota of overs for a side all out), 16.10.3 (run rate is runs divided by overs faced). icc-cricket.com (read 12 Oct 2026).
- Marylebone Cricket Club. The Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code — Law 17.1, “The ball shall be bowled from each end alternately in overs of 6 balls”, and 17.3.3, only valid balls count towards the six. lords.org (read 12 Oct 2026). The MCC’s Laws index lists the current edition as the 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026), while the individual Law pages still carry a 2017 copyright line.