Strike rate refers to two different

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

in the

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. Batting strike rate is a measure of how quickly a batter achieves the primary goal of batting, namely scoring runs, measured in runs per 100 balls; higher is better. Bowling strike rate is a measure of how quickly a bowler achieves the primary goal of

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

, namely taking

wickets In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at each end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a ...

(i.e. getting batters out), measured in balls per wicket; lower is better. For bowlers, economy rate is a more frequently discussed statistic. Both strike rates are relatively new statistics, having only been invented and considered of importance after the introduction of

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

cricket in the 1970s.

Batting strike rate

Batting strike rate (s/r) is defined for a batter as the average number of runs scored per 100 balls faced. The higher the strike rate, the more effective a batter is at scoring quickly. In

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

, a batter's strike rate is of secondary importance to ability to score runs without getting out. This means a Test batter's most important statistic is generally considered to be

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, rather than strike rate. In

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

, strike rates are of considerably more importance. Since each team only faces a limited number of balls in an innings, the faster a batter scores, the more runs the team will be able to accumulate. Strike rates of over 150 are becoming common in

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket. Strike rate is probably considered by most as the key factor in a batter in one day cricket. Accordingly, the batters with higher strike rates, especially in Twenty20 matches, are more valued than those with a lesser strike rate. Strike rate is also used to compare a batter’s ability to score runs against differing forms of bowling (eg spin bowling, fast bowling), often giving an indication to the bowling team as to how successfully to limit a batter's ability to score.

Highest career strike rate (T20I)

Highest career strike rate (ODI)

Men's One Day Internationals: Women's One Day Internationals:

Bowling strike rate

Bowling strike rate is defined for a bowler as the average number of balls bowled per wicket taken. The lower the strike rate, the more effective a bowler is at taking wickets quickly. Although introduced as a statistic complementary to the batting strike rate during the ascension of one-day cricket in the 1980s, bowling strike rates are arguably of more importance in Test cricket than One-day Internationals.Batting Strike Rate
/ref> This is because the primary goal of a bowler in Test cricket is to take wickets, whereas in a one-day match it is often sufficient to bowl economically - giving away as few runs as possible even if this means taking fewer wickets.

Best career strike rate (ODI and T20I)

Best career strike rate (Tests)

References

{{Cricket statistics Cricket terminology Cricket records and statistics Rates