Cricket Betting for Dummies- A Comprehensive Guide

cricket betting for dummies

Cricket may not be as popular as football but it certainly ranks high in the sports betting world. This online betting guide for beginners will elaborately explain the complexities attached to cricket betting. When it comes to cricket betting for dummies, one needs to understand the difference between domestic and international cricket. Three international cricket formats are played between the full and associate member nations.

These types are:

Test Cricket: Also known as first-class cricket is the oldest form of cricket played over 5 days with 2 innings per side.

One Day Cricket: Also known as List A cricket is played over 1 day with 50 overs allocated per side.

T20 Cricket: A modern-day cricketing format that was popularized in the 2000s is a thriller. The game allocates 20 overs per side not taking more than 90 minutes.

Cricket betting odds explained

When it comes to betting on sports, one has to consider considerable risk management. Likewise, cricket is no exception to this. One needs to understand that never exceed a set limit of money that you are willing to lose. Consequently, one should not set the amount of money to bet on each match, this will allow for betting possibilities on the only outcomes that you can.

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Let’s dive into what cricket betting odds for dummies represent. For instance, consider that South Africa is taking on England in an ODI match. South Africa are at odds of 1.87 to win the match. These are bookmakers’ assessment of South Africa’s odds of winning against England. Odds in cricket are an implied probability of an outcome occurring just like in any other sports betting.

Let’s break the odds of South Africa winning against England further down. Conversion to implied probability:

Implied probability = 1 / decimal odds

South Africa’s odds of winning against England are at 1.87:

1 / 1.87 = 0.5348 = 0.5348 * 100 = 53.48 %

So basically South Africa stands a 53.48 % chance of beating England in the ODI match. Understanding the odds expressed in decimal form is critical to successful betting.

So now let’s suppose that you plan on betting on South Africa to beat England in the ODI match. To calculate your winning in case South Africa wins the match, we need a simple formula:

Your Profit = (Your Stake * Odds) – Your Stake

How much profit will you make on a $10 bet if South Africa wins the match:

Your Profit = ($10 * 1.87 ) – $10 = $8.7

So you’ll make a profit of $8.7 on your $10 bet if South Africa beats England.

cricket betting for dummies
Cricket betting is among the most popular sports wagers

Cricket value bets

As with any other sports betting, one needs to understand the betting value to be consistently profitable. To calculate the betting value, we need a simple calculation: Value = (Odds * Your Assessed Probability) – 1

For Instance, suppose India is taking on Australia in an upcoming Test match. The bookmaker’s odds of India beating Australia are at 3.00. However, with your assessment, you believe that there is a 45% chance that India will beat Australia in the Test match. So does the bookmaker’s odds of 3.00 provide us with any value?

Value = (3.00 * 0.45) – 1 = 0.35

When the value is greater than 0, it is known as ‘value bet’. Turning to the example again, According to bookmakers India is at odds of 3.00 to beat Australia and our assessment gives us a 45% chance of India Winning. So basically there is a 35% value in the bookmaker’s odds of India winning the Test match.

You need to understand that you should only lay down your own money on a cricket match if the value is greater than 0. Why is this important? In cricket betting for dummies, the key to consistently being profitable over a long period is to make a more accurate assessment of an event occurring than what is presented in the bookmaker’s odds. As with the example above, an accurate assessment leads us to have better odds of an implied event occurring than what was reflected in the bookmaker’s odds, hence allowing us to place a value bet.

cricket betting for dummies
Betting on cricket isn’t just entertaining but also rewarding

Cricket betting explained- cricket betting for dummies

Bookmakers are now offering a variety of cricket betting markets that are seemingly more exciting and allow one to find their area of expertise when considering value bets. These markets account for all of the three formats, the Test Cricket, One Day Internationals, and the thrilling T20 Cricket format. Allow us to explain to you the popular cricket betting markets and how one can profit from them. 

    • Match Outcome/Series Winner
    • Leading Wicket Taker/Leading RunScorer
    • Man Of The Match
    • Highest Opening Partnership
    • Number Of Boundaries
  • Match outcome/series winner

The most famous betting market is undoubtedly the match outcome market. When it comes to ODI matches, there are two possible outcomes, win or lose for either side. However, in the Test match cricket, there are three possible outcomes with the third being a draw. But with the ever-increasing run rates, draws are becoming less likely. Only a rainy day or a very flat wicket may halt the play eventually leading into a draw.

Betting on a series winner is more or less the same as the match outcome market. The difference being that instead of a single match outcome one can bet on a cumulative number of matches.

Leading run-scorer & leading wicket-taker

This is another betting market that offers immense profits for the bettors. Anticipating this can be easy as there might be a prevailing trend that the bettors need to keep an eye out for. For instance, the leading run-scorer might be batting in the top 3 of the batting line up in an ODI. The upper batting order tends to face the most amount of balls during a match and when the field is up during a power-play, that adds an advantage.

Highest opening partnership

This might be tricky for the bettors to anticipate, as there are several factors involved. For instance, some batsmen struggle with a specific bowler. The bettors need to research how some batsmen do against certain bowlers.

Man of the match

As with any other sports, there is some athlete that picks up an edge over his opponents or teammates. Cricket is no different with regards to this as some batsmen and bowlers can put in a match-winning performance. A bettor when considering this market for betting needs to analyze batsmen who can put in a quickfire hundred or a bowler who can take wickets in a quick session as they might be prime candidates for the man of the match award. However, some matches won primarily because of some match-turning performance by some low tire batsman or bowler that none expected.

Number of boundaries

Another market that bettors can bet is the number of boundaries. Bettors need to be aware of the big hitters in both the teams whether they can work the ball into gaps and hit fours or launch the ball into the sky for a maximum. Other factors come into play as well when anticipating the number of boundaries, such as the size of the ground. With smaller grounds, the boundaries can come with ease.

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Best cricket betting strategies- cricket betting for dummies

A major chunk of cricket betting for dummies guides includes the top strategies just like any other sports betting strategy. To find the best value betting opportunities, one needs to develop an array of working betting strategies. The following are five keys that one needs to analyze for finding the best cricket betting value.

cricket betting for dummies
Cricket used to be the aristocrats’ activity

Research conditions

When it comes to cricket, playing conditions are vital. In cricket, the playing conditions directly affect the outcome of the match. Starting with the uncontrollable weather, a better need to analyze how much play does the weather forecast allows. When considering a Test match a draw becomes likely as play continues during rainy weather.

Secondly, in some cricket nations, the sun sets much quicker than others. For instance, a Test match taking place in Srilanka where the sunset is earlier than say England. So if the test match is affected by rain already then it will struggle to find enough daylight hours to make up for the lost play hours.

One needs to be vigilant when analyzing the weather and not completely put off betting on the outcome of a match or series based on inclement weather. Cloud cover weather assists swing and seam blowing to incredible extents that it becomes hard for batsmen to read the ball.

Ground history & the pitch

Next up, the people interested in betting on cricket need to understand the importance of the venue the match is being played at with regards to its ground and pitch history. The surface offered by the groundsmen is crucial for either side’s chances of winning the match.

Understandably, no two pitches act the same year-on-year. However, certain cricket grounds provide the same play due to the same grass and soil type. For instance, Asian pitches are known for being flat that tend to favour the batting side of cricket, while say England pitches are traditionally known for assisting seam and swing bowlers.

A thorough understanding of the pitch will allow the bettors to filter out what is probable on some of the betting markets e.g. leading run-scorers and number of boundaries.

File:Bancroft's School cricket pitch.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Inspect the pitch as well, not just the teams – Image source: JoannaScott at the English language Wikipedia / CC BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons

The Toss

With several factors dictating the outcome of a cricket match, the toss is the most crucial one in our humble opinion. Winning the toss first on a Test match would allow you to bat first on a brand new pitch, while the pitch offered little to no movement for the seam or spin bowlers. By batting first and putting on a big score for the opposition, you can effectively control the course of the game. While bowling last on a deteriorated pitch from all the previous play can offer your bowling attack some much-needed assistance.

When the captain of a team is unsure of how the pitch will play out then they consider a losing toss as a ‘good toss to lose’. Some of the points the bettors might take into consideration when having a read on the pitch:

Bowl first

If the pitch has grass on it, then it will assist the seam bowlers with variable bounce and swing, making it harder for the batsmen to hold their ground.

Bat first

If the pitch has a bare texture to it, looks white or yellow then it will assist batting as it is a flat wicket.

Bat first

If the pitch is initially cracked then as the game proceeds, batting would become relatively harder as the cracks would open up further, assisting all bowlers with bounce and turn.

Bowl first

A check with the rain gods if the forecast is cloudy and traditionally the ground helps to swing bowler.

It’s a thing with the cricket that some grounds are historically famous for major aspects of the play. For instance, some grounds are considerably tricky to bat second on. As when the floodlights come on, the bowlers get the ball swinging considerably in either direction as compared to the first innings played in the afternoon sunshine.

While some grounds make it harder to defend a score as they have smaller than usual playing areas where the opposition batsmen can find boundaries with ease when chasing a big total. In summary, one should wait for the toss to take place first before betting on a live cricket match as a toss is one of the uncontrollable.

cricket betting for dummies
Are you ready for some cricket betting?

Form of teams & players

Any sports betting requires one to analyze the current form of the overall team and its players. Cricket bettors need to read the form the team and players are in, to successfully predict the outcome of a match. Some batsmen tend to bat aggressively on some grounds while failing to put on a decent score in others. Certain bowlers tend to be notorious for the opposition batsmen not because of their bowling style but because of the form that they are in.

Team form is crucial when betting on cricket. Losing the first match of a huge series would consequently put pressure on the side that is away from home eventually hampering its chances of putting on a decent fight.

Cricket betting for dummies spreadsheet

Lastly, to be successful long term, you need to keep track of your betting. By keeping a track record of your bets, you can see areas of good returns while also realizing areas where you show poor discipline and bad judgment calls. Keeping the strategies in mind from this online betting guide for beginners, you can begin your journey into the world of cricket betting.

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