Cricket is one of the most popular sports around the world with an average total audience of 1.6 billion during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup (including more than 700 million estimated viewers). With so many fans it's little wonder that the sports betting market for cricket is massive as well.
We tell you how to bet cricket, from the basics of the game, to wagering options, and how to handicap your betting strategy so you can beat the odds.
WHAT ARE THE BASICS OF CRICKET
Cricket is a game with a lot of rules (known as laws) and strategies, but for those new to the game we outline the basics below:
• Cricket is a bat and ball game played between two teams each made up of eleven players.
• The game is played on a oval field that for ICC standards must measure at least 70m and no more than 90m from the center of the pitch at the longest boundary line. Some fields look like elongated ovals while others almost look like perfect circles. The interior rectangular area known as the pitch, where the bowler, wickets and batters are, is a standard 22 yards long by ten feet wide.
• Games comprise of at least one innings (yes, even the singular for innings in cricket has an "s" at the end) where each team will take turns batting and fielding/bowling.
• Two batsman are on the pitch at the same time, one at each wicket (a set of three "stumps" or upright sticks) on either end of the pitch. The fielding team will have one of their players (the bowler) bowl the ball to one of the batsman who tries to hit the ball with the bat.
• The batsmen try to score as many runs as possible by: 1) Hitting the ball and running from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielders can hit the wickets with the ball. Each time they run one full length of the pitch (when the batters essentially end up at opposite ends) it equals 1 run. They can try to score as many runs as possible on each successful hit but unlike baseball they do not have to run on a hit ball if they don't think they can successfully make it safely to the other side. 2) Hitting the ball to the outside boundary along the ground counts as four runs. 3) Hitting the ball over the boundary on the full (in the air) counts as six runs.
• The fielding team tries to get the batsmen out by several methods, the most common being: 1) Hitting the wickets with the ball when bowling. 2) Catching a batsman’s shot on the full before it hits the ground. 3) Hitting the batsman’s leg in front of the wicket (known as LBW for leg before wicket), Or hitting the wickets before the batsmen can cross the safety creases on either end of the pitch (which the fielding team can do either by throwing the ball or by hitting it against the wicket while holding it).
• An over is a period of six consecutive legal deliveries (similar to a pitch in baseball) bowled by the bowler. At the end of an over the fielding team must switch bowlers and begin bowling from the opposite end of the pitch.
• The fielding team must get 10 batsmen out before they can change over and start batting. An out is also known as a dismisal or a wicket (as in the batting team loses a wicket and the fielding team takes a wicket).
• Cricket matches are of various lengths, ranging from Twenty20 cricket which is played over approximately three hours with each team batting for a single innings of 20 overs, to test matches which are played over as many as five days with unlimited overs and the teams each batting for two innings of unlimited length. One Day International matches (ODIs) consist of 50 overs per side.
• At the end of the match the team with the most runs win. However if the set amount of overs or the scheduled end of play is reached before a side has completed an inning, the game is declared a draw. For this reason, a losing team may attempt to slow down play in order to get a draw result while a leading team may choose to end their inning before 10 dismissals (known as a declaration). Draws used to be very common in test cricket but have become increasingly less common in the modern day game due to more aggressive batting and faster matches.
• The final score for a game is expressed with a number followed by a second number such as 237-8 or 237/8. The first number is the runs scored followed by wickets taken. If there is a third number in brackets it is the number of overs reached. For this reason if the team that began batting wins the game, the final result is measured in runs. For example, Team A won by 30 runs. If the team chasing wins the game (since the game would end as soon as they overtook the lead), the final result is measured in wickets left for the winning side; as in Team B won by four wickets.
WHAT ARE CRICKET BETTING OPTIONS
Match Betting
Where you simply bet on which side you think will win. In American odds, the favorite will typically have a negative (-) sign in front of their number while the underdog will generally have a positive (+) sign. If both teams are listed at -110 or PK then they have even odds.
Draws are also a possibility and can be bet on as well. Some sportsbooks even offer odds on "double chance" which allows you to bet on a side to win or draw, with a slightly smaller payout than a straight win.
Over/Under
Also referred to as betting on the total, the objective is to predict how many runs will be scored by both teams combined. A sportsbook will determine the total number of runs they think will be scored, and the bettor wagers on whether or not the final result will be higher (Over) or lower (Under) than that number. O/U betting is less common in cricket than in sports like football and basketball.
Proposition Betting
If you like proposition bets, wagers that aren't directly connected with the final result of a game, then cricket is definitely the sport for you. Most sportsbooks offer a massive variety of prop betting options both for teams and individual players. You can bet on events like the total number of runs scored by either team, the runs scored in each inning, the runs scored for particular parts of an inning (for example the runs scored for the first 15 overs) and the total amount of fours and sixes in a game.
When it comes to player props there might be even more options at your fingertips. These include props like the top batsmen and bowlers on either side, Over/Unders on runs scored by particular players, head to head stats for particular players, Yes/No bets on players scoring 50 runs, and wagering on which player will win Man of the Match.
Futures Betting
Futures bets are also very popular in cricket and usually consist of bets on series winners or outright winners. It is quite common for cricket teams to play a three or five game series with each other and bettors can wager on the overall winning team in a series or a prop bet like who the highest scoring player in a series will be.
Outright winners refers to betting on which team will a tournament (such as the Cricket World Cup, the ICC Champions Trophy or the World Twenty20) or a league such as the Indian Premier League.
Live Betting
In-Play betting adds another layer to the cricket betting experience. There are tons of odds available here as well. Before a new batsman begins his turn you can bet on how many runs he will score before being dismissed. You can also wager on the method of the next dismissal and also on the amount of runs scored on the next ball in play. Along with fluid numbers on the side and Over/Under bets, there is a lot available for in-game bettors to sink their teeth into.
HOW TO HANDICAP THE CRICKET ODDS
Know your Cricket Format
As we mentioned, there are several different kinds of matches with varying lengths of time. It's crucial to understand how these will affect your bets. Twenty20 cricket is played with just 20 overs per side so it's much shorter than other forms of cricket, making it more likely that an underdog will be able to pull off the victory.
On the oppostite end of the spectrum, a favorite in test cricket is even more likely to pull off the victory since the game takes place over a greater period of time and variables have a tendency to even out over time. Think of it as the difference between an underdog beating a favorite in a single NBA game, as opposed to beating them in a playoff series where they need to win four out of seven contests.
In test cricket there is no maximum amount of overs for a bowler (while in T20 and ODI games a bowler can only bowl 1/5 of all his team's overs). That means that while bowling is incredibly important in all forms of cricket it is even more valuable in test cricket.
Dig Into the Numbers
Like baseball, cricket is a game of numbers and there are meticulous records kept of all the different stats. If you want to beat the odds you need to look into those numbers. Tend to focus on recent form over historical form, check out home/away splits and also look at the stats of each side's best bowlers and batsmen to have an idea of the individual matchups.
Statsguru, Cricinfo's database for cricket statistics is a fantastic tool to help with handicapping your cricket bets.
Travelling Troubles
Playing on the road is tough in any sport but it can be especially difficult in international cricket. Not only do teams sometimes have to travel half way around the world to get to a game but then they have to deal with an unfamiliar environment as well. Since cricket grounds can be different dimensions, the home side batters have a distinct advantage in knowing the best areas to hit the ball into.
Bowling is an extremely complicated skill which takes into account several different kinds of methods in order to change direction, these include reverse swing, swing and seam. Things such as temperature and humidity can affect bowls and the surface of the pitch will also affect how the ball bounces off the ground.
All these factors combine to give a sizable edge to home nations. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka tend to play far below their usual caliber outside of Asia, while Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa struggle in Asia.
Understand Team Tendencies
This takes a fair bit of research including following recent results and watching games whenever possible. Just like how some NFL and NBA teams play better in certain quarters or at the beginning or end of games, cricket teams also have tendencies.
Perhaps, the most important tendency is recognizing how a team performs when defending and chasing, that is when playing the second half or the first half of an innings. Some teams perform better when defending a lead while others tend to play much better when they have a target to chase.
Bet on Balance
While in some sports, the weakest players in a lineup can be given a very small role or stuck on a bench, every player must do their part in cricket. Ten dismissals per side means that in most cases almost every player will get a turn at bat, and restrictions on how many overs a player can bowl means that in a T20 or ODI match each team will need five capable bowlers (who can also contribute with a bat).
This means that while the best players fill up the stats sheet and get a lot of publicity, team success often relies on the lesser known players. A cricket team tends to only be as strong as their weakest player, so keep in mind depth - especially how many quality bowlers a team has - when wagering on a side.
