Have any of my friends across the pond been watching or following the Cricket World Cup?

I just went onto ESPN.com and the headline was the game between New Zealand and Australia, If ESPN is pushing the Cricket World Cup, Surely it's an attempt at developing interest in the states? However, Having said that, Soccer has just recently started to truly take off, I doubt Cricket will be able to considering it's complexities.

Just a question, Have you watched or even took note of the Cricket World Cup that is going on in Australia and New Zealand, It's been great entertainment mind you, I have Australia winning it what with the talent, being home and emotional motivation as well, One of their players died after getting hit on the head during a match last year, I got them at +250.

England play the Sri Lankans tonight and the notoriously Jekyll and hyde Pakistan play Zimbabwe also, The run totals are released 15 minutes before the first bowl. The coin toss takes 30 minutes before the first ball, and winner of the coin toss can decide whether to bowl or bat first by assessing conditions, If it's sunny as Miami and you win the coin toss, Odds are the captain will decide to bat, If it's cloudy and windy, The captain will most probably decide to bowl as the ball will grip onto the pitch better making it hard for the batsman to score runs HOWEVER, Just because it is sunny and you bat first doesn't mean, You are guaranteed to hit the over on the run total and just because it's cloudy and windy doesn't mean you are guaranteed to get the under on the run total.

Sometimes when it's sunny and a team bats first, The batsmen can get cocky and complacent and can assume the bowlers will get all sweaty and tired and they are entitled to make easy runs, Which makes them lose concentration and can end up getting them playing shots they normally wouldn't, You also tend to lose value when a side decides to bat first on a sunny day as the run total gets inflated by 20/30 runs, Same way the run total can get decreased on a cloudy and windy day.

The odds for England v Sri Lanka are currently, England -125, Sri Lanka +100, My predicted run totals for England would be around 270.5, If the total opens up anywhere around that, I'd take a look at the conditions and line up and would advise a bet on the over if you have spare change lying around for fun. If the run total for England opened up at 285.5 etc, I'd stay away as that would not warrant what England deserve, We are not a great side and 285.5 would be getting us at a higher number than we deserve. If Sri Lanka batted first, I'd love for them to be getting 290.5, Especially if it was sunny as I'd bet the under hard, 290.5 would be represent the odds makers expect England to continue their woeful bowling displays despite Sri Lanka not being as good as we are bad.

I personally think we can win this game but it really is dependant on what the conditions are and what the respective captains do, We're a team that don't play well under pressure, So if we win the coin toss and bowl first, I'd be slightly worried as the expectancy to bowl well could get to our flakey bowlers, Same would be if we won the coin toss and batted first on a sunny day. 

I won't be able to bet the Pakistan v Zimbabwe game since it starts around 3.30 am here and hopefully, The England v Sri Lanka game will be near it's conclusion by then as it starts 10pm UK time, Pakistan should thrash Zimbabwe but they will be nervous as it's sort of a must win game for them and plus Zimbabwe are off the back of a major shellacking, If Pakistan bat first, Bet the under as you could get a high number which they don't deserve, Something around 320.5. 

Tell me more about Cricket complexities.

How did the player die?  They do not wear helmets?

I, as most Americans, are ignorant when talking Cricket.

I watched Bangladesh vs. Afghanistan for three whatever they are called's, and I have never been more confused in my life.

Goose, He was wearing a helmet but he was hit on the back of the neck, Where there's less protection, As soon as he got hit within 5 seconds, He fell face first onto the floor and was rushed to the hospital. The guy who hit him did go through some trauma initially but has since got back to playing cricket and seems to have recovered well.

I'll give a sort of learn something new about cricket info daily in here, If you want, In Cricket you have 50 overs, Our equivalent of 4 quarters, In that 50 overs you have to score as many runs or stop the other side scoring as many runs, Each over consists of 6 balls which a player will bowl, So basically 300 balls, If the bowler bowls the ball wide of the batsman or above shoulder height or steps over the white tram line where the umpire stands, The opposition is given a free run and the bowler has to bowl the ball again, Absorb that information and i'll give some more info tomorrow.

You couldn't have stumbled upon a worst cricketing match to pop your cricketing cherry if you tried, That's the equivalent of some English guys first baseball game being the Astros vs Mets.  

Sounds good.

I'd also be interested how one would "handicap" a cricket match.

Goose, The handicap isn't really prevalent in cricket, BET365 has started to handicap the games but that's only because of the furore of it being a World Cup, Regular games don't really get handicapped or given spreads, Your main ways of cashing in are money lines prior to the match or in between the teams respective innings, So say England are -125 prior to the game but they bowl really badly and the opponent scores a lot of runs, Once it's time for England to start batting they could have odds of +300.

Then you have my personal favourite which is predicting the teams runs over/under, The odds are always -120 although you can get alternative totals which give you better odds but less or more runs for the team to score, The bookies give you their number and it's for you to decide whether they will score man the set runs or less in their 50 overs, Over being what I mentioned earlier. Then you have sort of a horse racing scenario where you predict which guy will score the most runs for his side, The two batsman who bat first are usually the favourites in the market barring them being young players or having a world class player batting down the line up, The odds for this market usually look like this, David Warner +275, Aaron Finch +350, M Clarke +400, S Smith +400, G Maxwell +550, M Marsh +650, B Haddin +900 and then the rest are the bowlers where the odds go into the +2000 etc. The best way to bet this is taking the guys down the order as you get better odds and also you cannot be moosed LOL, A guy batting number 1 or 2 could be +300 to be top scorer, He could make 80 runs and then the guy batting 6 with odds of +900 could come and make 82 runs towards the end of the innings, That's happened so many times it's hilarious.

Sounds like a sport, and again I am ignorant, where there could be corrupt fixed matches.  The sport of Jai Alia comes to mind.

Have no clue either what's going on with that game

Every time I see it though the guy pitching (bowling?) jumps up and down and celebrates when he strikes the guy out.  I keep waiting for the batter to rush the mound and a melee to ensue but it never happens

This form of cricket is called an ODI ( One Day International ) or 50 over match and each team faces the equivalent of 300 pitches or until their 10 batsmen are out.  games normally takes 8 hours to complete. It's a faster form of cricket but the game that they should be trying to push into the US is T20 cricket. I think Americans would enjoy watching it as it is a much quicker version and there is some huge hitting. Each team faces approx 120 deliveries and a game lasts a little longer than your average MLB game ( except when the Yankees play the Red Sox on Sunday night baseball ).

The money bet on the game in India alone is truly staggering and it would embarrass Vegas. You can bet on every single ball that is bowled and you have a variety of options. It would be similar to being able to bet on every pitch thrown and being able to bet on that pitch being a strike, a ball, a foul, a ground out, a fly ball, a base hit etc.

Goose, this is where the corruption comes in. Fixing an entire match is much tougher to do now ( almost impossible ) but there is a new form of " fixing " that has evolved and it is called " spot fixing ". This occurs where a bowler will tell a gambler or usually a bookmaker ( as they have deeper pockets ) what he will do on  certain delivery. The bookie then bets or risks all the other options and cleans up. It would be the equivalent of Justin Verlander telling someone that on his first pitch to the #2 hitter he will throw a " wild pitch ". His co-horts would bet that option and clean up.

Drizzle, as the OP said, you could not have watched a worst game as your first game. As this tournament gets deeper you should watch more of it if you can. In particular try and watch any games involving the main Countries i. Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa. The two teams you watched are developing cricket nations and the game you watched is the equivalent of the Toledo Mud Hens v the Springfield Isotopes. Don't let that game be your firt and last cricket match.

back in '87 i was in australia and saw them on tv play some other country.  i joined the game in the middle, watched for 2 hours, then found out it was continuing the next day.  that was the last i ever had to do with that sport.

You caught what is called a " Test Match " and good thing you stopped after 2 hours. Those matches go for 5 days. Even worse is that after 5 days the match can finish in a draw.

The 50 over matches or ODI's go for approx 8 hours and the T20 matches take around 3.5 hours. The T20's are the matches I can see getting some following in the US based on it being a far more aggressive and much quicker format of the game.

Syddigs, Are you an American who likes cricket or from a test playing nation? Your knowledge is good that's why I ask.

I have been following it and enjoying it.  I have a cursory understanding of the game.  It's pretty interesting as a "once every four years" sport, kind of like many Olympic sports or the World Cup for Americans who aren't soccer fans.

England have won the coin toss and decided to bat first, Their team total is 284.5, No play for me but if you're rich and want to make this game interesting i'd bet the under as the total is pretty inflated based on what this team has been doing for the past 3/4 years.

Game must of already started.

I only see...

Pakistan -440

Zimbabwe  +340

Yes, apparently no In-Game betting.

My other Book has...

Pakistan -395

Zimbabwe +320

England have gotten off to a flyer, 59/0 after 7 overs, At this rate, We should get 350/360 runs.

I'm actually Australian but I have been living abroad for the better part of the last 15 years.

Be careful of any matches involving Pakistan, Goose. They basically invented match and spot fixing.

About 15-20 years ago this is a match that they would have lost, but not before half of the team got down a good chunk of change on Zimbabwe

Syddigs made the comment that Twenty20 could maybe get some interest here in the US.  I agree that's the form that has the best shot.  We just have such a crowded sporting landscape here.

This 50 over ODI format used to be very exciting back in the day Kenny, but it has become a lot more calculated and a little boring to be honest. No doubt it is exciting for those who haven't see much cricket but when you grew up watching it you can see the difference between now and 20 years ago.

I definitely believe T20 is the cricket that could excite American fans. It takes as long as an NFL game with a lot more action than an MLB game. I think Americans would be impressed with just how far these cricketers can hit a ball as well as with the fielding ( without gloves ) and how a bowler can move the cricket ball much like a pitcher can a baseball.

It's an even better game to watch at night under lights.