world cup run rates question: does it make any difference whether a team bats first or second, with regard....

Question

to the chance of improving a teams run rate?

it has been explained that the losing teams run rate is deducted from the winning teams run rate....

so if a team posts a score..say..of 300 and bowls a team out for 100 in 30 overs they will reap a rich reward.

however if they bat second and their opponents only score 100 the most amount of runs your team can score is 101-106

so, is it better to bat first, or is there a scenario where its possible to get as large a run rate in beating a team thats posted a low score....
ie do you get any run rate advantage for bowling that team out quickly.

also am i right in thinking that the number of wickets you lose has no bearing on the calculations for run rates?

in essence i am asking if your opportunity to improve your run rate is severely compromised if you bat second and your opponents set a low score.

Answer 1

Not really

if you bat second you know how quickly you need to score the runs. Sometimes it not good as batsman throw away their wicket by giving away a catch too early.

If your opponent set a low score you can still improve your run rate by reaching it early. If they are out early thier run rate is still divived by 50 overs so their run rate will drop.

Answer 2

The Net run rate is calculated as per following calculation:

Total runs scored Total runs conceded
------------------------- - -----------------------------
Total overs faced Total overs bowled

i.e. Total runs scored divided by total overs faced minus
total runs conceded divided by total overs bowled.

Even if the team batting second is skittled out for less than
50 overs, for calculation of Net Run Rate, the total overs bowled will be taken as 50 only and not the exact overs bowled.