The scoreboard says 156 for 3 after 23.4 overs, the parent next to you nods like that means something, and you clap along. It means the batting side has scored 156 runs, lost three wickets, and faced 23 completed overs plus four balls of the 24th. Everything else on the board hangs off those three numbers.
Here is how to read a cricket scoreboard panel by panel, from the total down to sundries and the target, finishing with what an electronic board adds to the picture.
The Big Three: Total, Wickets and Overs
Every cricket scoreboard, from a chalk board on a school oval to the electronic board at a first-grade ground, leads with three numbers.
The total is the runs the batting team has scored so far. It only goes up.
Wickets is how many batters have been dismissed. A team has eleven players, and an innings ends when ten of them are out (the last one cannot bat alone), when the overs run out, or when the captain declares. In Australia the score is read runs first, so 156-3 and 3 for 156 both mean 156 runs for the loss of three wickets. Read it the other way around and you have wandered into an English broadcast.
Overs is how many sets of six legal deliveries have been bowled. The number after the decimal point is balls in the current over, so 23.4 means 23 overs done and four balls into the 24th. It never reads 23.6, because six balls makes it 24.0.
The Two Batters
Below or beside the total, most boards show two more numbers, one for each batter at the crease, which are their individual scores. If the total reads 156 and the batters show 61 and 40, the missing 55 belongs to the three players already out and to sundries.
Electronic boards often add batter names, and some indicate which of the two is facing the bowling. If your board shows only shirt numbers or Batter 1 and Batter 2, the scorer’s book has the names, and so does the scoring app running in the shade of the pavilion.
Sundries, or Extras
Sundries (extras, if you learned the game overseas) are runs the batting team gets without the batter hitting the ball. Wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes all land here, and they explain why the two batter scores and the fallen wickets rarely add up to the total on their own. A high sundries count late in a T20 usually means the fielding side’s bowling has come apart under pressure, which is worth knowing before the last over.
Last Wicket and Last Batter
Two small panels tell the story of the most recent dismissal. Last wkt shows the team total when the last batter was out. Last man, or last batter on newer boards, shows what that batter scored. Together they tell you how the current partnership is going. If the total is 156 and the last wicket fell at 98, the two batters at the crease have put on 58 together, and the fielding captain is starting to look at his bowlers differently.
The Target and the Chase
In a one-day or T20 match, the second innings adds a number that matters more than anything else on the board. The target, sometimes shown as 1st inns or to win, is the first team’s total plus one. From there, runs needed is the target minus the current total. Overs remaining is the match length minus overs bowled. Divide one by the other and you have the required run rate, which is the number the whole ground is doing in their heads from about the fifteenth over.
In two-day and multi-day club cricket, the first innings panel shows what the side batting first made, and the chase plays out across a weekend rather than an afternoon.
Reading a T20 Differently From a Two-Day Game
The same numbers mean different things in different formats. In a T20, overs are the scarce resource, so a scoreboard reading 3 for 90 after 10 overs is a strong position and 3 for 90 after 16 is a problem. In a two-day game, wickets are what you run out of, so 3 for 90 after 40 overs is a team building carefully and in no hurry at all. Read the overs and wickets together and that is most of the cricket scoreboard explained. The format decides which of the two you care about.
What an Electronic Cricket Scoreboard Adds
Manual boards need a volunteer on a ladder, and they fall behind by the time the third boundary in an over has been hit. An electronic cricket scoreboard is updated from a wireless controller in the scorer’s box, so the total on the board matches the book after every ball, and the siren for drinks and stumps sits on the same controller.
ESA’s outdoor cricket boards show runs, wickets and overs in ultra-bright LED digits sized to the board and readable from the far boundary in full sun, with team names on a dot matrix display and a variable message sign for the target, sponsor names and the notice about the canteen. Individual batter totals and sundries panels can be specified for clubs that want the full card on the board. The same board switches to goals, behinds and points for the footy club in winter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 156-3 mean on a cricket scoreboard?
156 runs scored for the loss of three wickets. In Australia the runs are read first, so you will also hear it as three for 156. The team still has seven wickets in hand, and the total keeps climbing until the tenth wicket falls, the overs run out or the captain declares.
What does 23.4 overs mean?
23 completed overs and four balls bowled in the 24th. An over is six legal deliveries, so the number after the decimal only ever runs from 1 to 5. When it reaches six the board rolls over to 24.0.
What are sundries on a cricket scoreboard?
Runs the batting team receives without the batter hitting the ball, from wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes. They are added to the team total and to neither batter’s score, which is why the two batter totals and the fallen wickets rarely sum to the team total. Overseas the same panel is labelled extras.
What does last wkt mean?
The team total at the moment the most recent batter was dismissed. Subtract it from the current total and you have the runs added by the current partnership. A board showing total 156 and last wicket 98 tells you the current pair have added 58.
Why does the scoreboard show two batter scores?
Because two batters are at the crease at any time, and each has their own tally. When one is dismissed, their score moves to the last batter panel and the new batter starts from zero. Electronic boards can show the batters’ names beside the numbers, which saves the “who’s that” conversation at the fence.
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