Cricket Overs to Balls Converter (and Decimal Overs)
Overs → balls and decimal
Balls
112
Decimal overs
18.667
Balls left in a 20-over innings
8
Balls → overs
Overs notation
16.4
Decimal overs
16.667
Why cricket overs are not decimals
An over has six legal balls, so the scorebook counts in base six after the dot. 18.4 overs means 18 complete overs and 4 balls of the 19th. You will never see 18.6: after the sixth ball the over is complete and the count rolls over to 19. That is why the number after the dot can only be 0 to 5.
Spreadsheets and calculators do not know this. If you divide runs by 18.4 you are treating 4 balls as 0.4 of an over when it is really 0.667, and the run rate comes out too high. Convert to balls, divide by six, and use that.
| Notation | Balls into the over | Decimal part |
|---|---|---|
| x.1 | 1 | .167 |
| x.2 | 2 | .333 |
| x.3 | 3 | .500 |
| x.4 | 4 | .667 |
| x.5 | 5 | .833 |
Do extras change the overs?
Wides and no-balls are not legal deliveries, so they never move the overs count, however many are bowled. Byes and leg byes come from legal balls, so they do. If your overs total looks wrong at the end of an innings, an unrecorded wide or no-ball is usually the reason. See how to score a wide.
Frequently asked questions
How many balls are in 20 overs?
120 legal balls. A 10-over innings has 60, 6 overs has 36, and a 50-over innings has 300.
What does 0.3 overs mean?
Three legal balls, which is half an over. In decimal it is 0.5 overs.
Can an over have more than six balls?
It can have more than six deliveries, because wides and no-balls are re-bowled. It always has exactly six legal balls, unless an umpire miscounts, in which case the over as bowled stands.