Editing Bowling average (section)

{{Short description|Statistic used to compare cricket bowlers}}
{{for|information on average in [[Ten-pin bowling]]|Glossary of bowling#Other bowling terms and jargon}}
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[[File:George Lohmann 1895b.jpg|thumb|alt=George Lohmann|Of bowlers who have bowled at least 600 balls in [[Test cricket]], [[George Lohmann]] has the lowest career bowling average, 10.75.<ref name="CATest">{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/Test/Overall/Bowling/Lowest_Career_Bowling_Average.html |title=Test Lowest Career Bowling Average |website=CricketArchive |access-date=6 January 2013}}</ref>]]
In [[cricket]], a player's '''bowling average''' is the number of [[Run (cricket)|run]]s they have conceded per [[Wicket#Dismissal_of_a_batsman|wicket]] taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the [[Bowling (cricket)|bowler]] is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly used alongside the [[Economy rate (cricket)|economy rate]] and the [[Strike rate#Bowling strike rate|strike rate]] to judge the overall performance of a bowler. 

When a bowler has taken only a small number of wickets, their bowling average can be artificially high or low, and unstable, with further wickets taken or runs conceded resulting in large changes to their bowling average. Due to this, qualification restrictions are generally applied when determining which players have the best bowling averages. After applying these criteria, [[George Lohmann]] holds the record for the lowest average in [[Test cricket]], having claimed 112 wickets at an average of 10.75 runs per wicket.