Cricket Economy Rate Explained: The Formula, the 3.4-Overs Trap and What Counts as a Good Economy

Economy rate is the first number most people look at in a bowler’s figures, and it is the one most often calculated wrongly by hand. The idea is easy: how many runs does this bowler concede per over? The mistakes come from part-overs, from deciding which extras belong to the bowler, and from combining several spells. This guide fixes all three, then looks at what a “good” economy actually means, because a number that looks good in isolation can be ordinary in your league.

The Economy Rate Formula

The second form is the safest, because it never involves a decimal over. Count the legal balls bowled, multiply the runs by six and divide. A bowler who bowls 4 overs for 28 runs has bowled 24 legal balls, so the economy is 28 × 6 ÷ 24 = 7.00.

The 3.4-Overs Trap

Cricket writes a part-over as overs.balls, so 3.4 means three overs and four balls. It does not mean three and four tenths of an over. An over has six balls, so four balls is 4 ÷ 6 = 0.667 of an over and 3.4 overs is really 3.667 overs.

Whole overs are always safe. The error only appears when the figures contain a part-over, which is exactly when a bowler has been taken off mid-over or the innings ended. If you want to check a conversion, the over to ball converter does it in one step.

What Counts Against the Bowler

Runs conceded is not the same as the team’s extras. Under standard scoring convention:

• Charged to the bowler: runs scored off the bat, wides, and no-balls (the penalty run and any runs scored off the bat from that delivery).
• Not charged to the bowler: byes and leg-byes. They are extras against the team, not the bowler.

The legal-ball count matters too. A wide or a no-ball adds runs but is not a legal delivery, so it adds nothing to the balls bowled and pushes the economy up. A bowler with 4 overs, no wickets and two wides is charged those two runs without bowling two more legal balls. For the full breakdown of how each extra is recorded, see our guide to cricket extras.

Combining Spells and Matches

To get a season or career economy, add the runs, add the legal balls and divide once. Never average the economy rates themselves.

Averaging 20.00 and 5.00 gives 12.50, which wildly overstates the bowler’s cost because the expensive over was a single over. Weighting by balls gives the real figure. The bowling average and economy calculator handles part-overs correctly, and the season stats calculator is built for adding up a whole year.

Economy, Average and Strike Rate Together

Economy tells you how tightly a bowler contains the scoring. It says nothing about whether they take wickets. That is why scorecards also carry a bowling average and strike rate, and why the three are linked:

Take 4-0-28-2. Economy is 28 ÷ 4 = 7.00, strike rate is 24 balls ÷ 2 wickets = 12.0, and average is 28 ÷ 2 = 14.00. Check: 7.00 × 12.0 ÷ 6 = 14.00. The identity is useful because it shows the trade-off: a bowler can improve their average either by conceding fewer runs per over or by taking wickets more often. Our strike rate calculator and the batting-side companion, batting average explained, cover the other two.

What Is a Good Economy Rate?

There is no universal answer, because economy depends heavily on format, pitch, ground size and the phase of the innings. As a rough rule of thumb in professional T20 cricket, commentators treat under 7 as excellent, 7 to 8 as good, 8 to 9 as average and over 9 as expensive. Those are loose guides, not official thresholds, and they do not transfer to a 40-over club league or an under-13 game.

A better test for club and junior cricket is league-relative economy: compare the bowler with the average for the competition they are bowling in.

Worked example: if the league’s average economy is 5.20 and a bowler concedes 4.60 across 8 overs, they save (5.20 − 4.60) × 8 = 4.8 runs over a typical spell compared with the average bowler. That is a more honest measure than “4.60 sounds good”, and it works in any format. To get the league figure, add up every team’s runs conceded and legal balls from your scorecards and apply the formula once.

Why Context Still Matters

• Phase of the innings. A bowler who bowls the death overs will usually concede more per over than one who bowls into a settled middle. The powerplay rules also change who can bowl where.
• Sample size. An economy from two overs is noise. Treat a season figure as meaningful only once the bowler has bowled a reasonable number of overs.
• Opposition and conditions. A 6.5 on a small ground against a strong batting side can be better than a 5.5 on a bowler-friendly pitch.
• Economy is not net run rate. Net run rate compares a team’s scoring rate with its opponents’ in a competition. See how to calculate net run rate for the team-level version.

Worked Example: A Full Bowling Card

A bowler’s day: 4 overs, 1 maiden, 26 runs, 1 wicket, plus 2 wides in the figures. The legal balls are 24, because the wides are not legal deliveries. Runs conceded are 26, which already includes the wides. Economy = 26 × 6 ÷ 24 = 6.50. Strike rate = 24 ÷ 1 = 24.0 balls per wicket, and average = 26 ÷ 1 = 26.00. Reading all three together is what lets you see this was a tight but not very penetrative spell. For how to read those columns on a full scorecard, see how to read a cricket scorecard.

Recording Economy Without the Arithmetic

If you score by hand, the most error-prone moment is the end of the innings, when you convert part-overs and add extras to the right column. Want to record this automatically during your next match? Score your match with CricPulse. The scorecard works out each bowler’s economy from the legal balls bowled, so a part-over never skews the figure, and your season totals are built from the same ball by ball record. For end-of-season minimum-over rules, see our guide to club cricket averages and qualification.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the formula for economy rate in cricket?

Economy rate = runs conceded divided by overs bowled, where overs are converted to a decimal by dividing the extra balls by six. A bowler with figures of 4 overs and 28 runs has an economy of 28 divided by 4, which is 7.00. Equivalently, economy = runs x 6 divided by legal balls bowled.

How do you calculate economy rate with a part-over such as 3.4 overs?

Convert the balls first. 3.4 overs means 3 overs and 4 balls, which is 22 balls or 3.667 overs. A bowler conceding 29 runs has an economy of 29 divided by 3.667, which is 7.91, not the 8.53 you get by dividing by 3.4.

Do wides and no-balls count in economy rate?

Yes. Wides and no-balls, and any runs scored off the bat from a no-ball, are charged to the bowler. Byes and leg-byes are not charged to the bowler, though they do count against the team. Wides and no-balls also do not count as legal balls, so they add runs without adding to the balls bowled.

What is a good economy rate in T20 cricket?

As a rough rule of thumb in professional T20, under 7 runs per over is excellent, 7 to 8 is good, 8 to 9 is average and over 9 is expensive. These are guides, not official thresholds. Pitch, ground size, powerplay and death overs, and the standard of the league all move them, so compare against the average in your own competition.

How do you work out one economy rate across several spells or matches?

Add all the runs, add all the legal balls, then divide runs by balls and multiply by six. Do not average the individual economy rates, because that gives a short, expensive spell the same weight as a long economical one. One over for 20 and four overs for 20 averages 12.5 by the wrong method, but the true economy is 40 runs from 30 balls, which is 8.00.

What is the difference between economy rate, bowling average and bowling strike rate?

Economy is runs per over, average is runs per wicket and strike rate is balls per wicket. They are linked by average = economy x strike rate divided by 6. A bowler who concedes 28 runs in 4 overs and takes 2 wickets has an economy of 7.00, a strike rate of 12.0 and an average of 14.00.