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Howzat - get to grips with the numbers in cricket
Playing with numbers
A century of statistics
Cricket's improbable patterns
Interpreting the numbers
Making sense of the scorecard
How good are they?
Match-winning numbers
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Making sense of the scorecard

Although the best way of reading cricket is to follow the game as it happens, a remarkable amount can be gleaned from just looking at the scorecard or scoreboard.
Why not see what can you glean from the following Test scorecards before you look at our analysis. This includes:

  • what you can deduce directly from the numbers and annotations on the scorecard
  • what you can surmise about the conditions and the game from these statistics
  • what actually happened on the day.



Scorecard 1: England versus Pakistan at Headingley in 1992
Scorecard 2: England versus South Africa at Old Trafford Test in 1998
Scorecard 3: England versus Sri Lanka at The Oval in 1998


England versus Pakistan at Headingley in 1992

Matches can change direction very quickly. One side may be cruising in a strong position, yet an hour later they are totally on the back foot. An example of this came in the fourth Test between England and Pakistan in 1992. That year Graham Gooch was playing the best cricket of his career while a young Waqar Younis was ripping through batting line-ups across the world.


Scorecard 1

Gooch
b Mushtaq Ahmed
135
Atherton
b Wasim Akram
76
Smith
c Miandad
b Aqib
42
Stewart
lbw
b Waqar Younis
8
Gower
not out
18
Ramprakash
lbw
b Mushtaq Ahmed
0
Hick
b Waqar Younis
1
Lewis
lbw
b Waqar Younis
0
Pringle
b Waqar Younis
0
Mallender
b Waqar Younis
1
Munton
c Inzamam
b Mushtaq Ahmed
0
Extras

39
Total

320
   
  
  
Fall of wickets: 68, 270, 292, 298, 298, 303, 305, 305, 313, 320


What can you learn more about the game from this scorecard? Now compare your observations with our analysis.


England versus South Africa at Old Trafford Test in 1998

This was one of the great escapes of cricket history. South Africa made 552 for 5 in their first innings, England was bowled out for 183, and with almost two days left England faced an innings defeat. If England lost, South Africa would go 2-0 up in the series, an almost unassailable lead. With football dominating the news, the press talked of the imminent death of English cricket. Here is the scorecard from England's remarkable second innings:

Scorecard 2
South Africa 1st innings: 552 for 5 declared
England 1st innings: 183
England 2nd innings:

Knight
c Boucher
b Donald
1
Atherton
c Ntini
b Kallis
89
Hussain

b Kallis
5
Stewart
c Klusener
b Donald
164
Ramprakash
lbw
b Donald
34
Thorpe

b Donald
0
Cork
b Adams
1
Croft
not out

37
Giles
c sub
b Donald
1
Gough
c Kirsten
b Donald
12
Fraser
not out
0
Extras

5
Total

369 for 9
   
  
  
Fall of wickets: 4, 11, 237, 293, 293, 296, 323, 329, 367



What can you learn more about the game from this scorecard? Now compare your observations with our analysis.


England versus Sri Lanka at The Oval in 1998

Bowling cards also tell a story. In the Test match between England and Sri Lanka in 1998, England scored 445 in their first innings - the kind of total that makes defeat seem impossible. Then Sri Lanka raced to a mammoth 591. To their horror, instead of looking to win, England now had to bat to save the game. They failed. The Sri Lankan bowling figures in England's second innings looked like this:


Scorecard 3

Overs Maidens Runs Wickets
Wickremasinghe
4
0
16
0
Perera
11
2
22
0
Muralitharan
54.2
27
65
9
Dharmasena
19.3
13
12
0
Jayasuriya
28
14
30
0
De Silva
10.3
3
16
0
Jayawardene
2
0
5
0
 
  
 
  



What can you learn more about the game from this scorecard? Now compare your observations with our analysis.






Lawrence Griffiths/Allsport