Cricket is one of those sports that people either love or hate. If you have a passion for the sound of leather on willow then you might be looking forward to a summer of cricket which will see England play test series against the likes of South Africa and the West Indies. Although, most England cricket fans will most likely have their eyes on the winter tour in which Joe Root will captain his first ever Ashes test series Down Under.
Even if you love the sport, not everyone’s attention span can last 5 days. Luckily, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy cricket away from the test match format, with one day internationals and T20 games becoming increasingly popular as the sport looks to appeal to younger fans.
If you are an avid follower of all forms of the game then you might already be well versed in the art of cricket betting. But, if you don’t know your silly point from leg gully, then you might need a few pointers when it comes to your cricket betting strategy.
Apply the Basic Sports Betting Rules
Cricket fans and players alike secretly love the fact that the sport is so esoteric. Just find a spin bowler and ask them to explain the difference between a doosra and a googly and they will gladly spend an hour or two drawing diagrams and making weird motions with their arms and wrists. On the flips, the intricacies of the game of cricket can sometimes be a bit overwhelming to the uninitiated.
We can’t go into the differences between every type of delivery, every fielding position and every batting technique, so you will have to do your own research (just following a test match live on TV or the radio is a good way to learn more about the game). However, when it comes to placing a bet on a cricket match, the basic tenets of all sports betting hold true:
– Do your homework: win and loss percentage rates can tell you the same about a cricket team as they will tell you about a football team or tennis player. There might be lots of funny words involved in Cricket, but there is always a result at the end of the game – just like in any other sport – and form-based statistics are important to help you bet with smart forethought. You can also use batting statistics and bowling figures when it comes to more technical bets, just as you would look at goalscoring records to wager on a goal-based market in football.
– Look for value: once you have some statistical data, you will be able to project your own probabilities to predict who is more likely to win a game of cricket, be it a test match, ODI or T20 meeting. This is exactly what the bookies do to determine the odds that they sell on their sportsbook websites. If you have an idea of what the odds should be according to your own research, then you might just spot a set of odds that are worth taking a punt on.
– Don’t chase losses: you can crunch all the numbers and find the best value odds, but you still won’t be able to predict the future and you will lose bets on cricket matches. As with any other type of gambling, a lost bet shouldn’t influence your next bet. Dust it off and move on to the next game with a clear mind and a fresh set of research.
Types of Cricket Bet
If you can stick by those rules then you will do alright in any form of sports betting. If you are keen to get into the nitty gritty of cricket betting, then you will be happy to know that it is easy to find a full range of advanced betting options, as you will see for yourselves at the top online sports betting sites. After all, you need something to do to help you pass the time during a 5 day test match!
Here are some of the most popular betting options in the sport:
– Top batsman: this one is pretty self explanatory – you simply place a wager on which player you think will score the most runs in the match. Typically, the higher up the order a batsman is, the better he is. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that he will score the most runs. Opening batsmen have the job to set up a foundation for the innings, which usually means not getting out rather than piling on the runs. Plus, the new ball and fresh wicket can catch out even the sharpest of batsmen. Our tip is to look to the middle order when you place a top batsman bet. These players will have have longer odds, but they will also have had the opportunity to judge the conditions of the ball and the pitch before stepping up to the crease. Mentality also has a role to place because there could be the added pressure of needing to chase runs while a lack of pressure could give middle-order batters the freedom to play some adventurous boundary strokes.
– Top bowler: this bet applied to the bowler who takes the most wickets in a match (with the fewest runs conceded taken into account in the event of a tie between two bowlers). To make a good bet in the top bowler category, you’ll need to have some understanding of the different types of delivery, the condition of the pitch and which batsmen are weak against certain types of bowling. You only have to look back to last year in Bangladesh and England’s collapse to the spin of Mehedi Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan – who took 6 and 4 wickets respectively – to know that the right conditions and the wrong batsmen can lead to the big bowling figures for one or two bowlers.
– 50/100 to be scored in the match: reckon that a player will reach one of these milestones? Again, this bet often comes down to the conditions of the pitch since a flat wicket and a fast outfield will lead to batsmen scoring boundaries for fun. Of course, it’s also a good idea to look at the statistics for the relevant batsmen and the bowlers that they will face; imagine you have an in-form country cricketer called up to the England squad who will be fresh and confident against against a bowling attack that has spent an entire summer running full pelt at at the crease.
– Runs at fall of 1st wicket: the opening moments of a test match and ODI can be slow and tetchy, so why not make it a little bit more interesting by placing a bet on how many runs are on the board when the first wicket falls.
– 1st wicket method: likewise, you can anticipate the first batsman to fall by guess the method of dismissal. It’s fair to say that each batsman has their weakness and, if the conditions are right, bowlers will try to exploit this with the new ball. It’s worthwhile remembering that there are two batsmen who can fall to the first wicket. Also, the first 10 or so overs of a ODI or test match will be bowled by pace bowlers, so there less chance of a stumping, for example.
– Total match sixes: it’s a sight of beauty to see a cricket ball come cleanly off the centre of the bat and clear the boundary into the stands. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen on every delivery, although you are likely to see it happen more in T20 cricket than in a test match.
Fancy placing a bet? Take a look our Bookmaker Reviews for an in-depth analysis on whom sign up for.
