MasterstrokeNumbers and stats
Run rate
Runs scored per over. Divide runs by overs faced, remembering that 17.3 overs means 17.5, not 17.3.
Run rate is the number of runs a team scores per over: total runs divided by overs faced.
A side that has made 96 from 12 overs has a run rate of 8.00. The one trap is the notation. Overs are written as complete overs and balls, so "12.3 overs" is twelve overs and three balls, which is 12.5 overs for the purposes of the sum. A team on 96 from 12.3 overs is scoring at 7.68, not 7.80.
Run rate is the pulse of a limited-overs innings. In a T20, eight an over is competitive and ten is strong; in an ODI, six is a good platform and the last ten overs are expected to go at nine or more. The bowling side's version of the same number is the economy rate. The team-level version, adding up an entire tournament, is net run rate, and when a target is being chased the figure that matters is the required run rate.
In Masterstroke: the scoreboard shows the current run rate alongside the required one, so the gap between them is the first thing you read at the start of every over.