Bowling Average Calculator
Calculate bowling average and performance statistics
Bowling Average Calculator
Calculate bowling average and performance statistics
What is a Bowling Average?
Bowling average is one of cricket's oldest and most trusted stats. It shows the average number of runs a bowler gives away for each wicket they take. A bowler with an average of 25 takes a wicket every 25 runs — the lower the number, the better the bowler is doing.
Worked example: a bowler takes 3 wickets while giving away 60 runs in a match. Bowling average = 60 ÷ 3 = 20.0 for that game. Over a full career, the same maths applies to every run and wicket added up across all matches. That's why one great spell barely moves a career average, while a long stretch of expensive, wicketless bowling can drag it down a lot.
Bowling average is not the same as economy rate. Average tells you the cost per wicket. Economy rate tells you the cost per over, wickets or no wickets. A bowler can be cheap without taking many wickets, or take wickets while being expensive — these are two separate questions.
How to Use This Calculator
Good Bowling Average by Format
- • Test — Below 22: Elite, all-time-great territory
- • Test — 22 – 30: Good, solid international bowler
- • ODI — Below 25: Elite
- • T20 — Below 18: Elite
Why Bowling Average Matters in Cricket
Bowling average has been the main way to rank Test bowlers for over a century. Selectors and fans use it to compare bowlers across different eras — someone averaging in the low 20s over a long career is usually seen as genuinely world-class, no matter which decade they played in.
It also shapes how captains use their bowlers during a match. A bowler with a strong average against a particular batting order is often brought on at key moments, because history shows they are more likely to get that wicket cheaply than someone with a weaker record.
Some of the greatest bowlers in Test history, like Sydney Barnes and Malcolm Marshall, have career averages in the low-to-mid 20s — a number that has barely changed in over a hundred years, even as bats, pitches, and playing conditions have changed a lot. That stability is part of why the stat is still so respected today.
?Frequently Asked Questions
Below 25 is excellent for a career average. Below 22 puts a bowler among the all-time greats. 25-30 is solid for an international bowler. Conditions matter a lot too — bowling on seam-friendly pitches is very different from bowling on flat, batting-friendly ones.