Net run rate (NRR) is a statistical method used in analysing teamwork and/or performance in cricket.[1] It is the most commonly used method of ranking teams with equal points in limited overs league competitions, similar to goal difference in football.
The NRR in a single game is the average runs per over that team scores, minus the average runs per over that is scored against them. The NRR in a tournament is the average runs per over that a team scores across the whole tournament, minus the average runs per over that is scored against them across the whole tournament.[2][3] This is the same as the weighted average of the run rates scored in each match (weighted by the lengths of the innings batted compared to the other innings batted), minus the weighted average of the run rates conceded in each match (weighted by the lengths of the innings bowled compared to the other innings bowled). This is not usually the same as the total or average of the NRRs from the individual matches in the tournament.
A positive NRR means a team is scoring faster than its opposition overall, while a negative NRR means a team is scoring slower than the teams it has come up against.[4] It is therefore desirable for the NRR to be as high as possible.
NRR has been criticised as hard to understand. Also, while it measures how quickly teams score and concede runs, this is not at all the same as how big the teams' margins of victory or defeat are (as it ignores wickets lost), and so ranking sides by NRR does not rank them by size of victory. This means a team which progresses in a tournament at the expense of another team, due to a higher NRR, may not have truly performed better than their opponents.[5]
In the Cricket World Cup, the first use of NRR was in the 1992 tournament.[6] Earlier tournaments used run rate instead as the tie-breaker.[7]