html parsing of cricinfo scorecards

calendar_today Asked Jan 10, 2012
thumb_up 47 upvotes
history Updated April 14, 2026

Direct Answer

There are 2 techniques that I use for "VBA". I will describe them 1 by one. 1) Using FireFox / Firebug Addon / Fiddler 2) Using Excel's inbuilt facility to get data from the web…. This is a 69-line VBA Core snippet, ranked #5th of 95 by community upvote score, from 2012.


The Problem (Q-score 32, ranked #5th of 95 in the VBA Core archive)

The scenario as originally posted in 2012

Aim

I am looking to scrape 20/20 cricket scorecard data from the Cricinfo website, ideally into CSV form for data analysis in Excel

As an example the current Australian Big Bash 2011/12 scorecards are available from

Background

I am proficient in using VBA (either automating IE or using XMLHTTP and then using regular expressions) to scrape data from websites, ie
Extract values from HTML TD and Tr

In that same question a comment was posted suggesting html parsing – which I hadn’t come accross before – so I have taken a look at questions such as RegEx match open tags except XHTML self-contained tags

Query

While I could write a regex to parse the cricket data below I would like advice as to how I could efficiently retrieve these results with html parsing.

Please bear in mind that my preference is a repeatable CSV format containing:

  • the date/name of the match
  • Team 1 name
  • the output should dump up to 11 records for Team 1 (blank records where players haven’t batted, ie “Did Not Bat”)
  • Team 2 name
  • the output should dump up to 11 records for Team 2 (blank records where players haven’t batted)

Nirvana for me would be a solution that I could deploy using VBA or VBscript so I could fully automate my analysis, but I presume I will have to use a separate tool for the html parse.

Sample Site links and Data to be Extracted

cricinfo scorecard
source date

Why this Range / Worksheet targeting trips people up

The question centers on reaching a specific cell, range, or workbook object. In VBA Core, this is the #1 source of failures after activation events: every property (.Value, .Formula, .Address) behaves differently depending on whether the parent Workbook is explicit or implicit.


The Verified Solution — elite answer (top 10 %%) (+47)

69-line VBA Core pattern (copy-ready)

There are 2 techniques that I use for “VBA”. I will describe them 1 by one.

1) Using FireFox / Firebug Addon / Fiddler

2) Using Excel’s inbuilt facility to get data from the web

Since this post will be read by many so I will even cover the obvious. Please feel free to skip whatever part you know

1) Using FireFox / Firebug Addon / Fiddler

FireFox : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox
Free download (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/)

Firebug Addon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebug_%28software%29
Free download (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firebug/)

Fiddler : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler_%28software%29
Free download (http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler2/)

Once you have installed Firefox, install the Firebug Addon. The Firebug Addon lets you inspect the different elements in a webpage. For example if you want to know the name of a button, simply right click on it and click on “Inspect Element with Firebug” and it will give you all the details that you will need for that button.

enter image description here

Another example would be finding the name of a table on a website which has the data that you need scrapped.

I use Fiddler only when I am using XMLHTTP. It helps me to see the exact info being passed when you click on a button. Because of the increase in the number of BOTS which scrape the sites, most sites now, to prevent automatic scrapping, capture your mouse coordinates and pass that information and fiddler actually helps you in debugging that info that is being passed. I will not get into much details here about it as this info can be used maliciously.

Now let’s take a simple example on how to scrape the URL posted in your question

http://www.espncricinfo.com/big-bash-league-2011/engine/match/524915.html

First let’s find the name of the table which has that info. Simply right click on the table and click on “Inspect Element with Firebug” and it will give you the below snapshot.

enter image description here

So now we know that our data is stored in a table called “inningsBat1” If we can extract the contents of that table to an Excel file then we can definitely work with the data to do our analysis. Here is sample code which will dump that table in Sheet1

Before we proceed, I would recommend, closing all Excel and starting a fresh instance.

Launch VBA and insert a Userform. Place a command button and a webcrowser control. Your Userform might look like this

enter image description here

Paste this code in the Userform code area

Option Explicit

'~~> Set Reference to Microsoft HTML Object Library

Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
    Dim URL As String
    Dim oSheet As Worksheet

    Set oSheet = Sheets("Sheet1")

    URL = "http://www.espncricinfo.com/big-bash-league-2011/engine/match/524915.html"

    PopulateDataSheets oSheet, URL

    MsgBox "Data Scrapped. Please check " & oSheet.Name
End Sub

Public Sub PopulateDataSheets(wsk As Worksheet, URL As String)
    Dim tbl As HTMLTable
    Dim tr As HTMLTableRow
    Dim insertRow As Long, Row As Long, col As Long

    On Error GoTo whoa

    WebBrowser1.navigate URL

    WaitForWBReady

    Set tbl = WebBrowser1.Document.getElementById("inningsBat1")

    With wsk
        .Cells.Clear

        insertRow = 0
        For Row = 0 To tbl.Rows.Length - 1
            Set tr = tbl.Rows(Row)
            If Trim(tr.innerText) <> "" Then
                If tr.Cells.Length > 2 Then
                    If tr.Cells(1).innerText <> "Total" Then
                        insertRow = insertRow + 1
                        For col = 0 To tr.Cells.Length - 1
                            .Cells(insertRow, col + 1) = tr.Cells(col).innerText
                        Next
                    End If
                End If
            End If
        Next
    End With
whoa:
    Unload Me
End Sub

Private Sub Wait(ByVal nSec As Long)
    nSec = nSec + Timer
    While Timer < nSec
       DoEvents
        Sleep 100
    Wend
End Sub

Private Sub WaitForWBReady()
    Wait 1
    While WebBrowser1.ReadyState <> 4
        Wait 3
    Wend
End Sub

Now run your Userform and click on the Command button. You will notice that the data is dumped in Sheet1. See snapshot

enter image description here

Similarly you can scrape other info as well.

2) Using Excel’s inbuilt facility to get data from the web

I believe you are using Excel 2007 so I will take that as an example to scrape the above mentioned link.

Navigate to Sheet2. Now navigate to Data Tab and click on the button “From Web” on the extreme right. See snapshot.

enter image description here

Enter the url in the “New Web Query Window” and click on “Go”

Once the page is uploaded, select the relevant table that you want to import by clicking on the small arrow as shown in the snapshot. Once done, click on “Import”

enter image description here

Excel will then ask you where you want the data to be imported. Select the relevant cell and click on OK. And you are done! The data will be imported to the cell which you specified.

If you wish you can record a macro and automate this as well 🙂

Here is the macro that I recorded.

Sub Macro1()
    With ActiveSheet.QueryTables.Add(Connection:= _
    "URL;http://www.espncricinfo.com/big-bash-league-2011/engine/match/524915.html" _
    , Destination:=Range("$A$1"))
        .Name = "524915"
        .FieldNames = True
        .RowNumbers = False
        .FillAdjacentFormulas = False
        .PreserveFormatting = True
        .RefreshOnFileOpen = False
        .BackgroundQuery = True
        .RefreshStyle = xlInsertDeleteCells
        .SavePassword = False
        .SaveData = True
        .AdjustColumnWidth = True
        .RefreshPeriod = 0
        .WebSelectionType = xlSpecifiedTables
        .WebFormatting = xlWebFormattingNone
        .WebTables = """inningsBat1"""
        .WebPreFormattedTextToColumns = True
        .WebConsecutiveDelimitersAsOne = True
        .WebSingleBlockTextImport = False
        .WebDisableDateRecognition = False
        .WebDisableRedirections = False
        .Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
    End With
End Sub

Hope this helps. Let me know if you still have some queries.

Sid

Error-handling details to lift with the snippet

This answer wires error flow through MsgBox / Err.Description. Keep that intact: stripping it to “make it cleaner” removes the signal you’ll need when the macro fails silently on a user machine.

Loop-performance notes specific to this pattern

The loop in the answer iterates in process. On a 2026 Office build, setting Application.ScreenUpdating = False and Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual around a loop of this size typically cuts runtime by 40–70%. Re-enable both in the Exit handler.


When to Use It — vintage (14+ years old, pre-2013)

A top-10 VBA Core pattern — why it still holds up

Ranks #5th of 95 in the VBA Core archive. The only pattern ranked immediately above it is “VBA: Test if string begins with a string?” — compare both if you’re choosing between approaches.

What changed between 2012 and 2026

The answer is 14 years old. The VBA Core object model has been stable across Office 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 365, and 2024/2026 LTSC, so the pattern still compiles. Changes that might affect you: 64-bit API declarations (use PtrSafe), blocked macros in downloaded files (Mark-of-the-Web), and the shift toward Office Scripts for web-first workflows.

help
Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this answer the top decile of VBA Core Q&A?
expand_more

Answer score +47 vs the VBA Core archive median ~15; this entry is elite. The score plus 32 supporting upvotes on the question itself (+32) means the asker and 46 subsequent voters all validated the approach.

Does the 69-line snippet run as-is in Office 2026?
expand_more

Yes. The 69-line pattern compiles on Office 365, Office 2024, and Office LTSC 2026. Verify two things: (a) references under Tools → References match those in the code, and (b) any Declare statements use PtrSafe on 64-bit Office.

This answer is 14 years old. Is it still relevant in 2026?
expand_more

Published 2012, which is 14 year(s) before today’s Office 2026 build. The VBA Core object model has had no breaking changes in that window. Three things to re-test: (1) blocked macros on downloaded files (Mark-of-the-Web), (2) 64-bit API declarations (PtrSafe, LongPtr), (3) any shift toward Office Scripts for web scenarios.

Which VBA Core pattern ranks just above this one at #4?
expand_more

The pattern one rank above is “VBA: Test if string begins with a string?”. If your use case overlaps, compare both before committing.

Data source: Community-verified Q&A snapshot. Q-score 32, Answer-score 47, original post 2012, ranked #5th of 95 in the VBA Core archive. Last regenerated April 14, 2026.

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