What’s the bowling average, strike rate, and economy? (with a calculator)

Bowling average, strike rate, and economy are used to measure a bowler’s skillsets in cricket.

These terms can confuse cricket fans sometimes.

So here we have dissected each bowling jargon.

Be it how to calculate them, what’s the safe line for you, and learning about the record holders. we have it covered all in this article.

Jump to the sections

What is the bowling average? (calculator)
What is the bowling economy? (calculator)
What is the bowling strike rate? (calculator)
conclusion

What is the bowling average and how to calculate it?

The bowling average shows the runs given by a bowler between the wickets he/she takes.

The bowling average is calculated by dividing a bowler’s total runs by his/her total wickets and its formula is Total runs conceded/ total wickets taken.

The bowler who takes 2 wickets and concedes 100 runs in his career has a bowling average of 100/2 = 50.

Unlike in batting, the lower the bowling average, the better the bowler.

For beginners having a bowling average of less than 24 is considered really good. That is, having played enough matches.

Talking of records…

Sandeep Lamichhane from Nepal has the best bowling average of 15.57 in one-day internationals.

George Alfred Lohmann (2 June 1865- 1 December 1901) holds the record of having the lowest bowling average in tests of just 10.75 in the 18 test matches he played.

Lohmann had an economy of 1.88 and played for England from 1886 to 1896.

What is the best batting average you can have?

In bowling, the lesser the average, the better the bowler. Theoretically, the best bowling average you can have is 0. The only zero you can proudly show to your father and not get beaten up.

What is the bowling economy?

The bowling economy is the average of runs a bowler concedes per over he bowls.

The bowling economy is calculated by dividing a bowler’s total runs by the total overs.

suppose a match where a bowler bowls 4 overs and gives 32 runs in his spell. His bowling economy would be total runs (32)/ total overs (4) = 8.

In a nutshell, the bowling economy shows the number of runs a bowler concedes per over.

The good bowling economy in test matches is under 3, under 4.80 in ODI, and under 7 in 20 overs format.

here is the list of bowlers with the highest bowling economy in different formats of the game.

What is the bowling strike rate?

The bowling strike rate is the number of balls it takes a bowler to take one wicket.

If a bowler has a strike rate of 48.9 that means he’s normally bowled around 49 balls between the wickets.

The bowling strike rate is calculated by dividing the number of balls bowled by the number of wickets taken.

Ex. A bowler with 6 overs and 5 wickets would have a bowling strike rate of 36/5 = 7.2.

All of the great test bowlers have their bowling strike rate written under 50.

The good strike rate in the longer multi days matches is less than 50, less than 35 in 50 overs matches and less than 20 in 20 overs matches.     

Conclusion

The strike rate, average, and economy are really important things selectors look for, and calculating them is really easy with a simple division.

the average with runs and wickets, the economy with runs and overs, and the strike rate with balls and wickets.
now that you know about the bowling measures you can also read “how to calculate batting average” and “what is the batting strike rate”