Bowling Average Calculator Cricket Bowling Average, Economy & Strike Rate · Ten-Pin League Average & Handicap
One calculator, two sports. Work out a cricketer’s bowling average with economy, strike rate and five-wicket-haul odds, or a ten-pin bowler’s USBC-style league average, handicap and the exact score needed to raise it.
Cricket conventions per ESPNcricinfo records · ten-pin averages per USBC league definitions · Legends recomputed from raw career totals · Last reviewed October 22, 2026
Bowling figures
FormatOvers use cricket notation: 812.3 means 812 overs and 3 balls. Byes and leg-byes are not charged to the bowler; wides and no-balls are.
Add matches, maidens & 5-wicket hauls
Paste scorecard figures (O-M-R-W)
Reads standard figures like 24.3-6-71-4 (overs-maidens-runs-wickets) and fills the totals for you.
League scores
Test bowling average
25.00runs per wicket
2,450 runs · 98 wickets · 812.3 overs
Very goodruns / over
Road to 24.00
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Haul odds per innings
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Bowling profile
Insights
Spell-by-spell tracker
Log each spell and watch your average move. Saved in this browser only.
How do you calculate bowling average?
Cricket: bowling average = runs conceded ÷ wickets taken. 2,450 runs for 98 wickets is an average of 25.00 — the bowler concedes 25 runs per wicket, and lower is better.
Ten-pin bowling: bowling average = total pins ÷ games bowled, with fractions dropped. 1,661 pins in 9 games is 184.56, recorded as a 184 average — and higher is better.
How to use the bowling average calculator
- Pick your sport. Cricket and ten-pin bowling use the same name for opposite ideas, so each mode has its own inputs, benchmarks and planner.
- Cricket: enter runs, wickets and overs. Choose the format so the benchmarks fit — a 30 average is very different in a Test and a T20. Paste scorecard figures like 24.3-6-71-4 and the calculator totals them for you.
- Ten-pin: paste your game scores. Use commas, spaces or new lines, or switch to total pins and games. Choose your league’s handicap basis and percentage.
- Set a target. Cricket shows how many wickets you need to bring your average down to a goal; ten-pin shows the exact score you need next game, or over the next few games, to raise it.
- Track and share. Log each spell or game, watch your trend line, and send your numbers to a captain or league secretary with Share link.
Cricket bowling average formula, economy and strike rate
Bowling average = Runs conceded ÷ Wickets
Economy rate = Runs conceded ÷ Overs (overs = balls ÷ 6)
Strike rate = Balls bowled ÷ Wickets
Combined bowling rate = 3 × Runs ÷ (Wickets + Balls ÷ 6 + Wickets × Runs ÷ Balls)
Like official scorecards, figures are cut off rather than rounded: averages and economy to two decimals, strike rate to one. Overs written as 812.3 mean 812 overs plus 3 balls, so balls = 812 × 6 + 3 = 4,875 — never multiply 812.3 by 6.
The three classic numbers answer three different questions. Average is the price of a wicket, economy is how hard you are to score off, and strike rate is how often you take a wicket. The combined bowling rate (CBR), proposed by South African statistician Hoffie Lemmer, is the harmonic mean of all three — one number that rewards bowlers who are cheap, tight and penetrative at the same time. Lower is better for all four.
What counts toward a bowler’s figures
- Charged to the bowler: runs off the bat, wides and no-balls.
- Not charged: byes, leg-byes and penalty runs.
- Wickets credited: bowled, caught, LBW, stumped and hit wicket. Run outs are not credited to the bowler.
Worked example: Glenn McGrath’s 21.64
McGrath finished his Test career with 563 wickets for 12,186 runs from 29,248 balls.
- Average: 12,186 ÷ 563 = 21.645 → 21.64
- Economy: 12,186 ÷ (29,248 ÷ 6) = 12,186 ÷ 4,874.67 overs = 2.49 runs per over
- Strike rate: 29,248 ÷ 563 = 51.9 balls per wicket
- Combined bowling rate: 3 × 12,186 ÷ (563 + 4,874.67 + 563 × 12,186 ÷ 29,248) = 6.45
Load “Glenn McGrath” in the calculator to see the same numbers, his haul odds and how many extra wickets he’d have needed to break 21.
What is a good bowling average in cricket?
Context is everything: Test bowlers bowl long spells against batters who can wait, while T20 bowlers bowl four overs to batters who must attack. These are the guide bands the calculator uses for each format.
| Rating | Test | ODI | T20 | Club / first-class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best band | Under 22 (all-time great) | Under 24 (elite) | Under 18 (elite) | Under 15 (outstanding) |
| Very good | 25–29.99 (22–24.99 world class) | 24–27.99 | 18–21.99 | 15–19.99 |
| Good / solid | 30–34.99 | 28–32.99 | 22–26.99 | 20–24.99 |
| Average | 35–39.99 (part-time level) | 33–39.99 | 27–31.99 | 25–31.99 |
| Expensive | 40+ | 40+ | 32+ | 32+ |
| Tight economy | 2.75 or less | 4.75 or less | 7.25 or less | 3.25 or less |
In limited-overs cricket, judge economy alongside average. A T20 bowler averaging 28 at 6.8 an over is usually more valuable than one averaging 22 at 9.0, because the runs saved across four overs often decide the match.
The great Test bowlers, recalculated
Each row is recomputed from raw career totals with the calculator’s own engine — average, economy, strike rate and the combined bowling rate that ranks them on all three at once.
| Bowler | Wkts | Runs | Average | Economy | Strike rate | CBR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malcolm Marshall (WI) | 376 | 7,876 | 20.94 | 2.68 | 46.7 | 6.80 |
| Joel Garner (WI) | 259 | 5,433 | 20.97 | 2.47 | 50.8 | 6.37 |
| Curtly Ambrose (WI) | 405 | 8,501 | 20.99 | 2.30 | 54.5 | 6.01 |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 563 | 12,186 | 21.64 | 2.49 | 51.9 | 6.45 |
| Richard Hadlee (NZ) | 431 | 9,611 | 22.29 | 2.63 | 50.8 | 6.75 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) | 800 | 18,180 | 22.72 | 2.47 | 55.0 | 6.44 |
| Imran Khan (PAK) | 362 | 8,258 | 22.81 | 2.54 | 53.7 | 6.59 |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 439 | 10,077 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 42.3 | 8.00 |
| Waqar Younis (PAK) | 373 | 8,788 | 23.56 | 3.25 | 43.4 | 8.04 |
| Wasim Akram (PAK) | 414 | 9,779 | 23.62 | 2.59 | 54.6 | 6.72 |
On the ESPNcricinfo qualification of 2,000 balls, George Lohmann’s 10.75 (112 wickets) from the 1880s and 1890s remains the best Test average ever recorded — a product of uncovered pitches as much as skill, which is why modern comparisons usually start from the post-war era.
How often should you take five wickets? Haul odds by strike rate
If wickets fall at random with your strike rate, the number you take in an innings follows a Poisson distribution with mean = balls bowled ÷ strike rate. For a Test bowler sending down 22 overs (132 balls) an innings, that gives:
| Strike rate | Expected wickets | 3+ wickets | 5-wicket haul | 5-fors per 20 innings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 3.30 | 64% | 24% | 4.7 |
| 45 | 2.93 | 56% | 17% | 3.5 |
| 50 | 2.64 | 49% | 13% | 2.6 |
| 55 | 2.40 | 43% | 10% | 1.9 |
| 60 | 2.20 | 38% | 7% | 1.4 |
| 70 | 1.89 | 29% | 4% | 0.9 |
Great bowlers land close to these baselines over a career, which makes the model useful for spotting whether a run of five-fors is form or luck. In T20 cricket the same maths explains why four-wicket hauls are rare: four overs at a strike rate of 18 gives a mean of only 1.3 wickets.
Is a bowling average real after 10 wickets?
Rarely. Runs per wicket vary wildly from one dismissal to the next, so early averages swing hard. Treating runs per wicket as roughly exponential gives a standard error of about average ÷ √wickets. Here is the 90% range for a bowler averaging 25:
| Sample | 90% true-talent range | Uncertainty |
|---|---|---|
| 10 wickets | 12.0 – 38.0 | ±13.0 runs |
| 25 wickets | 16.8 – 33.2 | ±8.2 runs |
| 50 wickets | 19.2 – 30.8 | ±5.8 runs |
| 75 wickets | 20.3 – 29.7 | ±4.7 runs |
| 150 wickets | 21.6 – 28.4 | ±3.4 runs |
| 300 wickets | 22.6 – 27.4 | ±2.4 runs |
| 500 wickets | 23.2 – 26.8 | ±1.8 runs |
That’s why Wisden uses a 75-wicket minimum for Test averages and ESPNcricinfo a 2,000-ball minimum — and why a bowler averaging 18 after 12 wickets should not yet be compared with McGrath.
Ten-pin bowling average: formula and USBC conventions
Bowling average = Total pins ÷ Games bowled
Handicap = (Basis score − Average) × Percentage (never below 0)
USBC defines a league average as the total pins credited to a bowler in one league divided by the games bowled. Leagues conventionally drop the fraction — 184.56 is a 184 average — and drop fractions from the handicap too.
Worked example
Nine games: 178, 192, 165, 201, 187, 169, 210, 183, 176. Total pins = 1,661, so the average is 1,661 ÷ 9 = 184.56 → 184. In a league using 90% of 220, handicap = (220 − 184) × 0.90 = 32.4 → 32 pins per game, or 96 across a three-game series.
League handicap by average
The four most common league formulas, computed with fractions dropped:
| Average | 90% of 220 | 80% of 220 | 90% of 210 | 100% of 200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 120 | 90 | 80 | 81 | 80 |
| 135 | 76 | 68 | 67 | 65 |
| 150 | 63 | 56 | 54 | 50 |
| 165 | 49 | 44 | 40 | 35 |
| 180 | 36 | 32 | 27 | 20 |
| 195 | 22 | 20 | 13 | 5 |
| 210 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
What is a good ten-pin bowling average?
| Average | Level | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Under 120 | Beginner | Still building a consistent delivery |
| 120–149 | Recreational | Regular open-bowling player |
| 150–179 | League bowler | Typical league average range |
| 180–199 | Strong league bowler | Reliable spare shooting, regular strikes |
| 200–219 | Elite amateur | Top of most local leagues |
| 220+ | Pro level | Professional and top-tournament standard |
USBC awards and many tournaments look for an average built over at least 21 games, so treat anything shorter as provisional.
What score do you need to raise your bowling average?
There’s a neat shortcut. To lift your average by one pin after G games, your next game must be average + G + 1. Early in a season one good game moves the needle; by mid-season you need a big night:
| Games bowled | 150 → 151 | 180 → 181 | 200 → 201 |
|---|---|---|---|
| After 6 games | 157 | 187 | 207 |
| After 12 games | 163 | 193 | 213 |
| After 21 games | 172 | 202 | 222 |
| After 45 games | 196 | 226 | 246 |
| After 66 games | 217 | 247 | 267 |
The planner above handles any target and any number of games, including when a goal is out of reach because it would need more than 300.
Common bowling average mistakes
- Multiplying overs in decimal. 20.4 overs is 124 balls, not 20.4 × 6 = 122.4.
- Charging byes and leg-byes to the bowler. They are extras against the team, not the bowler.
- Crediting run outs. A run out is never a bowler’s wicket, even off their own bowling.
- Comparing across formats. A 30 average is ordinary in Tests and decent in T20; use the format switch.
- Rounding a ten-pin average up. Leagues drop fractions: 189.9 is a 189, which can mean an extra handicap pin.
- Mixing leagues. USBC averages are per league; combining pins from two leagues gives a number no secretary will use.
Zero wickets, zero average. A cricketer with no wickets has no bowling average at all — runs ÷ 0 is undefined — so scorecards show a dash. The calculator shows economy instead until the first wicket arrives.
Bowling average FAQs
How do you calculate bowling average in cricket?
Divide the runs conceded by the wickets taken. For example, 2,450 runs for 98 wickets gives a bowling average of 25.00, meaning the bowler concedes 25 runs per wicket. Byes and leg-byes aren’t charged to the bowler, and run outs don’t count as the bowler’s wickets.
How do you calculate a ten-pin bowling average?
Add up the pins from every game and divide by the number of games, then drop the fraction. For example, 1,661 pins over 9 games is 184.56, which is recorded as a 184 average in most leagues.
What is a good bowling average in cricket?
It depends on the format. In Test cricket, under 25 is world class and under 22 is all-time great. In ODIs, under 28 is very good, and in T20s, under 22 is very good. For the shorter formats, judge economy rate alongside the average.
What is a good bowling average in ten-pin bowling?
Typical league bowlers average between 150 and 179. An average of 180–199 is strong, 200–219 is elite amateur level, and professionals usually average 220 or more.
Is a lower bowling average better?
In cricket, yes: a lower average means fewer runs conceded per wicket. In ten-pin bowling, it’s the opposite: a higher average means more pins knocked down per game. The same phrase means opposite things in the two sports.
What is the difference between bowling average, economy rate and strike rate?
Bowling average is runs conceded per wicket, economy rate is runs conceded per over, and strike rate is balls bowled per wicket. Lower is better for all three. The combined bowling rate takes the harmonic mean of all three to give a single overall score.
How do you convert overs like 20.4 into balls?
Multiply the whole overs by 6 and add the number after the point: 20.4 overs is 20 × 6 + 4 = 124 balls. Never treat 20.4 as a decimal, because the digit after the point counts balls (0–5), not tenths of an over.
Who has the best bowling average in Test cricket?
With ESPNcricinfo’s 2,000-ball qualification, England’s George Lohmann holds the record at 10.75 from 112 wickets in the 1880s and 1890s. Among bowlers with 300 or more Test wickets, Malcolm Marshall’s 20.94 is commonly cited as the lowest.
How is bowling handicap calculated?
Subtract your average from the league’s basis score and multiply by the league’s percentage, then drop the fraction. With a 184 average and 90% of 220, the handicap is (220 − 184) × 0.90 = 32.4, so 32 pins per game. If your average is at or above the basis, your handicap is zero.
Do bowling averages round up?
No. Ten-pin leagues drop the fraction, so 189.9 counts as a 189 average. Cricket scorecards also cut bowling averages to two decimals rather than rounding them, which is why McGrath’s 21.645 is shown as 21.64.
How many games do you need for an established bowling average?
It depends on your league’s rules. USBC uses a minimum of 21 games for its highest-average awards unless tournament rules say otherwise. Many leagues treat an average built from fewer games as provisional.
What is the bowling average of a bowler with no wickets?
There isn’t one. Runs divided by zero wickets is undefined, so scorecards show a dash. Until the first wicket, the calculator shows the bowler’s economy rate instead.
Manzoor Ahmad
Founder, DexoCalc · 13+ years of web development and SEO experience
Manzoor builds and maintains every DexoCalc calculator. For this tool he coded cricket’s overs notation and scorecard conventions alongside USBC league-average rules, recomputed every legend’s figures from raw career totals, and generated each table on this page from the same engine that runs the calculator.
Sources & references
- Bowling average — definition, what counts, and qualification standards (Wisden 75 wickets; ESPNcricinfo 2,000 balls). Wikipedia
- Test career bowling records (balls, wickets, averages). cricket-stats.net
- ESPNcricinfo player records — Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis Test bowling. Wasim Akram · Waqar Younis
- Guinness World Records. Best bowling average in a Test match career (qualification: 2,000 balls). guinnessworldrecords.com
- Lemmer HH. The combined bowling rate as a measure of bowling performance in cricket. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 2002.
- United States Bowling Congress. Definitions — average (Rule 108) and minimum games for highest-average awards. bowl.com (PDF)
- GoBowling. Bowling handicap system guide — common basis and percentage combinations. gobowling.com
Note: Benchmark bands are DexoCalc guides, not official classifications. Your league’s own rules on handicap basis, percentage, caps and establishing averages always take precedence. Haul odds and true-talent ranges are statistical models for perspective, not predictions.