Match maths
Overs and Balls Converter
Convert between over notation, total balls and decimal overs. 12.4 overs is 76 balls, not 12.4.
Overs
12.4
in over notation
Total balls
76
Decimal overs
12.6667
Beyond the calculator
Crickslab works these numbers out ball by ball while the match is on, so nobody is doing arithmetic in the scorebook.
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How this was worked out
- 1In words12 overs and 4 balls
- 2As balls(12 x 6) + 4 = 76 balls
- 3As decimal overs12 + 4/6 = 12.6667
How the number is worked out
The formula
balls = (whole overs x 6) + balls decimal overs = balls / 6- whole overs
- The part before the point.
- balls
- The digit after the point, which is a ball count from 0 to 5, not a fraction.
There is no such thing as 12.6 overs. Six balls is a completed over, so that is 13.
12.7, 12.8 and 12.9 are not overs at all. Anything above 5 after the point is a data entry error.
A worked example: the conversion that breaks calculations
A scorecard reads 12.4 overs. Almost every wrong answer in cricket arithmetic starts by treating that as the number 12.4.
- 1Read it correctly12 overs and 4 balls
- 2Convert to balls(12 x 6) + 4 = 76 balls
- 3Convert to decimal overs76 / 6 = 12.6667 overs
12.4 overs is 12.6667 in decimal. A team on 100 runs is scoring at 7.89 an over, not the 8.06 you get by dividing by 12.4.
Rules and edge cases
The situations that change the answer, and the ones most calculators get wrong.
The digit after the point is balls, not tenths
Cricket writes overs as overs and balls separated by a point, which looks like a decimal and is not one. The digit after the point runs 0 to 5 because there are six balls in an over. Treating it as a decimal makes every rate derived from it slightly wrong, always in the same direction.
12.6 is not a valid over
Six legal balls completes the over, so the notation goes 12.5 then 13. If a scorecard shows 12.6 something has been entered incorrectly. This converter rejects it rather than quietly producing a number.
Wides and no balls do not advance the count
The over only moves on when a legal delivery is bowled. An over containing three wides takes nine deliveries but still counts as one over.
Where this matters most
Net run rate, economy rate and required run rate all divide by overs. Getting the conversion wrong shifts each of them by up to two per cent. Across a season that is enough to change a place in the table, which is why the error is worth taking seriously even though it looks trivial.
Frequently asked questions
Twelve overs and four balls. In decimal that is 12 + 4/6, which is 12.6667 overs, or 76 balls in total.
For scorers
Score ball by ball and never convert anything again
Crickslab counts the balls, so every rate on a scorecard is derived from the ball count rather than from notation somebody typed into a spreadsheet.
See match scoringLast reviewed 17 August 2026. Playing conditions change, so if your competition uses a different rule, its regulations take precedence over anything here.