MasterstrokeBlog
Net run rate explained, with a worked example
The formula, the all-out rule that trips people up, a three-match worked example, and what it means for how you should chase.
Every T20 league table ends with a column called NRR, and every season someone's playoff place turns on it. Net run rate is not hard, but it has one rule most people get wrong and one consequence most teams forget until the last week of the season.
The formula
Net run rate is the run rate a team has scored across the tournament minus the run rate it has conceded:
NRR = (runs scored / overs faced) - (runs conceded / overs bowled)
Both halves are totals across every match played, not an average of individual match figures. That distinction matters: one heavy defeat can wipe out three narrow wins.
Two details of notation. Overs are counted in balls, so 17.3 overs is seventeen overs and three balls, which is 17.5 overs in the sum. And in a rain-affected match, the DLS-adjusted scores and overs are used instead of the raw ones.
The rule everyone forgets
A team that is bowled out is treated as having faced its full quota of overs, however quickly it happened. Get all out for 120 in 15 overs of a T20 and your run rate for that innings is 120 divided by 20, not by 15. The same applies to the side you bowl out.
This has two consequences. Bowling a team out is worth more to your NRR than restricting them to the same score. And collapsing quickly is worse for your NRR than crawling to the same total, which is the one situation in T20 cricket where slow batting is rewarded.
A worked example
Suppose your side has played three matches.
| Match | Batting | Bowling |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 182 for 5 from 20 overs | 165 for 8 from 20 overs |
| 2 | 151 for 4 from 17.3 overs | 150 all out in 18.2 overs |
| 3 | 140 all out in 19.4 overs | 141 for 2 from 15 overs |
Two wins from three. Now the sums. In match 2 the opposition were bowled out, so they count as having faced 20 overs. In match 3 you were bowled out, so you count as having faced 20 overs too. Match 2's chase took 17.3 overs, which is 17.5.
Runs scored: 182 + 151 + 140 = 473. Overs faced: 20 + 17.5 + 20 = 57.5. Scoring rate: 473 / 57.5 = 8.226.
Runs conceded: 165 + 150 + 141 = 456. Overs bowled: 20 + 20 + 15 = 55. Conceding rate: 456 / 55 = 8.291.
NRR: 8.226 - 8.291 = -0.065.
Two wins, a negative net run rate. The heavy defeat in match 3, where you were bowled out and then chased down in 15 overs, cost more than the two wins earned.
What a faster chase would have done
Now replay match 2 with the chase finished in 15 overs instead of 17.3. Overs faced become 20 + 15 + 20 = 55, so the scoring rate is 473 / 55 = 8.600, and the NRR becomes 8.600 - 8.291 = +0.309.
Fifteen balls saved in a match you were winning anyway turned a negative NRR into a comfortably positive one. That is the practical lesson. Once a chase is safe, the overs you save are pure NRR, and NRR is what decides places on the points table when teams finish level.
How it should change your cricket
Chasing, when the match is won: keep attacking. A finisher who blocks out the last two overs of a won chase is costing the team a real asset, and the required run rate is no longer the number to watch.
Chasing, when the match is lost: bat out the overs. Being bowled out for 120 in 15 overs counts as 120 from 20; batting through to 130 for 8 counts as 130 from 20. Wickets in hand are worth NRR even when they are worth nothing else.
Setting a total: the value of your bowlers taking the last wickets is not just the runs saved. Bowling a side out for 150 in 18 overs counts as 150 from 20, which is a rate of 7.5 rather than 8.3.
In the last week: work out what each result does to your NRR before the match, not after. If a rival is a fraction ahead of you and you are chasing 160, the target that matters is 160 inside 16 overs, and the batting order should be built for it.
A quick reference
| Situation | Counts as |
|---|---|
| 150 for 6 from 20 overs | 150 from 20 |
| 150 all out in 17 overs | 150 from 20 |
| Chase of 151 completed in 17.3 overs | 151 from 17.5 |
| Rain-affected match | DLS-adjusted scores and overs |
| No result | Excluded entirely |
Masterstroke shows NRR beside points on the standings, and the board reads it the same way the league does. A season of narrow wins and one heavy defeat can leave you fifth on run rate, and the review will say so.