Net run rate compares how quickly a cricket team scores compared with its opponents in limited over games. It’s used mainly as a tiebreaker in league or group standings, similar to goal difference in football.
A team’s net run rate is calculated as the number of runs it scored per over divided by the number of runs its opponents score per over. For example, imagine team A batted first and scored 200 runs in 50 overs. Its run rate is 4 (200/50). Team B bats second and wins the game by reaching 201 runs in 36 overs. Its run rate is 5.58 (201/36). Team A’s net run rate is thus -1.58 (4 – 5.58) while Team B’s net run rate is 1.58 (5.58-4).
One important point to remember is that if a team is all out (its innings ends because it lost 10 wickets), its run rate is calculated using the total number of overs available. For example, if a team is in a 50 over match and scores 150 all out in 30 overs, its run rate for the game is 3 (150/50), not 5 (150/30).
Net run rate is usually calculated across a tournament. That means the calculation is the total number of runs per over scored by a team across all its games divided by the total number of runs per over scored against the team. A team’s net run rate will often be used if two or more teams are level on points at the end of the tournament or group stage.
Things get a little more complicated with rain interruptions. Normally if a game is abandoned without a result, it’s ignored for net run rate calculations. With games that have rain interruptions and use DLS, the run rate for the team that batted first will be based on the adjusted target that is set for the team batting second.
Net run rate can be controversial as it can incentive a team to play differently, particularly if it is very confident of winning a game. It might play more aggressively to bump up its net run rate. Alternatively it may benefit from playing in a way that helps its opponents get a better net run rate, preventing another team in the group advancing to the knockout stages.
The net run rate for an individual game can sometimes be used for bonus points. For example, in the Charlotte Edwards Cup the winning team normally gets four points towards the league table but will get five points if its net run rate is 1.25 or more. This can be confusing to figure out, but effectively means it must perform 25 percent “better” than its opponents or, put another way, make sure the opponents perform no more than 80 percent as well. That means if the winning team bats first, it must then keep the losing team’s score to less than 80 percent what it got. If the winning team bats second, it must win within 80 percent of the available overs (eg 16 overs in a T20 game.)