Runs Per Wicket Ratio (RpW ratio, also called the Quotient
) is a method of ranking teams in league tables in
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 ...
who are equal on other criteria, including points.
Usage
It was used in the
2019–21 ICC World Test Championship, under the name RpW Ratio.
It is used in Australia's
Sheffield Shield
The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...
, under the name Quotient.
It was used to determine the champions in
1910–11, and a number of times after that. It has not been required to determine final league positions since fractional bonus points for each run scored and wicket taken were introduced (in
2014–15).
It is used in India's
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...
and
Duleep Trophy, under the name Quotient.
Calculation
It is the number of
runs scored per
wicket
In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings:
* It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...
lost,
divided by the number of runs conceded per wicket taken:
Mathematically, this is equivalent to:
For example, if in one match Sri Lanka scored a total of 535 runs for the loss of 14 wickets, then they scored 38.214 runs per wicket. If they conceded 534 runs while taking 20 wickets, then they conceded 26.7 runs per wicket. So their RpW ratio = 38.214 ÷ 26.7 = 1.431.
The RpW ratio for their opponent (say New Zealand) is the
inverse of this: 26.7 ÷ 38.214 = 0.699. So if two teams have played only each other, their two RpW ratio figures are
reciprocals.
As the units are the same either side of the division (runs/wickets), they cancel out, so RpW ratio is a
dimensionless quantity
Dimensionless quantities, or quantities of dimension one, are quantities implicitly defined in a manner that prevents their aggregation into unit of measurement, units of measurement. ISBN 978-92-822-2272-0. Typically expressed as ratios that a ...
.
Interpretation
It is the average number of runs scored per wicket, for each run per wicket conceded:
*If RpW ratio is less than 1, then the team scored fewer runs per wicket than it conceded. In the example, New Zealand scored 26.7 runs per wicket but conceded 38.214 runs per wicket. So they scored 0.699 runs per wicket for each run per wicket conceded.
*If RpW ratio equals 1, then the team scored exactly the same number of runs per wicket as it conceded.
*If RpW ratio is greater than 1, then the team scored more runs per wicket than it conceded. In the example, Sri Lanka scored 38.214 runs per wicket and conceded 26.7 runs per wicket. So they scored 1.431 runs per wicket for each run per wicket conceded.
RpW ratio is not to be confused with the ratio of runs conceded to wickets taken by individual bowlers, known as
bowling average, or with
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 ...
.
Note: With just RpW Ratio, the winner of a particular match can't be decided as the data is insufficient in telling the actual status of the match already played.
References
{{Cricket statistics
Cricket terminology
ICC World Test Championship
Sheffield Shield