Is the glossary exhaustive?

No. The glossary is a working summary of the rules the desk uses most often. Formats vary, and the desk encourages readers to read the rule book of their own format before picking — the glossary is not a substitute.

How is the glossary updated?

The glossary carries a last-reviewed date at the foot. When scoring rules change in the formats the desk covers, the glossary is reopened and re-passed through the three-pass routine.

Does the glossary give scoring recommendations?

No — the glossary is a reading aid, not a recommendation. It tells the reader what the rules do, not which rule to pick.

Reading Piece · Points Glossary

Read the scoring rules before you pick.

Q: What does the points glossary cover?

It covers the scoring rules used in the most common fantasy cricket formats — captain multipliers, strike-rate bands, milestone bonuses, wicket values, fielding points, impact-player points, and the format variations the desk reads most often.

Every fantasy format scores the game differently. The points glossary is the desk's working summary of the scoring rules the lens sits on top of — captain multipliers, strike-rate bands, milestone bonuses, wicket values, fielding points.

Batting points

The batting scoring bands.

Batting points in most fantasy formats are built around four bands — runs, strike rate, milestones, and dismissal type. The desk reads the bands together rather than separately, because the trade-off between them is where most of the picking work happens.

Band	Typical rule	What the desk reads
Run	1 point per run	Linear. Reads the same in every format.
Boundary bonus	4 / 6 bonus on top of runs	Reads as a strike-rate proxy. Combined with the strike-rate band, can dominate the scoring.
Strike-rate band	+/- points at SR > 150 / < 100 (T20)	The band that rewards and penalises intent. The desk reads this as the format's risk-reward contract.
Milestone bonus	Bonus at 30 / 50 / 100	The milestone bonus turns a 30 into a 50, in scoring terms. Reads as a "did they get to a memorable innings" check.
Dismissal type	Penalised for low scores (duck)	Reads as a safety net against the captaincy pick. Most formats penalise a low score more than they reward a high one.

Bowling points

The bowling scoring bands.

Bowling points in most formats are built around wickets, economy bands, milestone bonuses, and dismissal type. The desk reads economy as a separate lens, because the points system usually rewards wickets more heavily than economy.

Band	Typical rule	What the desk reads
Wicket	25 / 30 per wicket	The headline number. Reads as the format's wicket-reward contract.
Economy band	+/- points at ER < 5 / > 11 (T20)	The desk's preferred lens. Most formats under-reward economy relative to wickets.
Milestone bonus	Bonus at 3 / 4 / 5 wickets	Reads as a "did they get to a spell" check. The 3-fer bonus can swing a pick.
Maiden over	Bonus per maiden	Reads as a powerplay check. Rare, but dominant when it happens.
Dismissal type	Bonus for LBW / bowled	Reads as a "skill versus edge" check. The bonus is small but consistent.

The captain multiplier variations

The captain multiplier is the largest single scoring band. Most formats use 2× for captain and 1.5× for vice-captain. Some formats use 3× for "super captain" (one per team) or 4× for "mega captain" (one across the whole contest). The desk reads the multiplier as a risk budget — the larger the multiplier, the more important the read of who to give it to.

The vice-captain role is the desk's preferred risk-spread. A 1.5× vice-captain is a small-but-meaningful reward for the second-best read; a 2× captain is the full reward for the best read.

The impact-player points variation

Most formats give the impact player a separate points band — usually the same scoring as the rest of the side, but the player is subbed in at a defined point in the match. The desk reads the impact-player points as a separate decision from the rest of the side.

The rule to watch: most formats cap the impact-player swap to one per match, and the swap is a single decision. The desk's working rule is to use the impact-player slot on a player the read endorses for a specific phase (powerplay, middle, death), not on a player the read endorses for the whole match.

Reading the variations

A short note on reading the variations between formats.

The points system glossary is a working summary, not a definitive reference. The formats the desk covers vary in their scoring rules, and the variations are where most of the picking work happens.

Some formats reward strike-rate bands at 130/150/200; others reward them at 140/160/200; others do not reward strike-rate bands at all. Some formats give a wicket-keeper bonus per dismissal; others give a flat bonus for three dismissals. Some formats give the impact player a separate points band; others score the impact player the same as the rest of the side. The variations matter — a 2× captain in a format that does not reward strike-rate is a different pick from a 2× captain in a format that does.

How the desk reads the variations

The desk reads the variations as a separate lens from the format itself. The format is the scoring rules; the variation is the format-specific overlay — the bonus bands, the multipliers, the impact-player rules. The reader who is playing two formats on the same night is doing two different reads of the same match, and the desk tries to make the variation visible.

What the desk does not cover

The desk does not cover every format. The glossary is a working summary of the rules the desk uses most often. The reader who is playing a format the desk does not cover is encouraged to read the rule book of their own format before picking — the glossary is a reading aid, not a substitute.

Editor's invitation

The glossary is the rule book — read it before the lens.

The points glossary is the rule book the captaincy lens sits on top of. The next room is the team balance reading, where the lens is applied across a whole side.

Read team balance Back to captaincy math