Cricket betting guide: Bet types, rules, format information, odds, in-play and more

Cricket’s growth in recent years has been a remarkable one, the advent of T20 cricket allowing the sport to attract a new audience in an era where the customer is demanding its entertainment in a much faster and more digestible form.

Furthermore, with cricket attracting a bigger global audience than in years gone by, it has become a sport played in more parts of the world than ever before and all year round.

In turn, that has seen cricket betting rapidly expand in recent years to cover anything from Test, One-Day International, T20 International, domestic and Franchise cricket.

As well as betting on outright series such as the Ashes or individual matches across all forms of the game, customers have access to a host of sub-markets where any number of betting opportunities can be found.

These include top team batsman markets, top team bowler markets or player performance markets where each wicket taken, catch taken or run scored is worth a number of points for the highlighted player.

For the customer, it is for them to decide whether to bet under or over the predicted player performance line, depending on the amount of success, or lack of success, that player is predicted to enjoy during that specific game or series.

Customers can also make their own bets using tools such as Request-A-Bet where they might specify which team is going to win a match and which players are going to make a significant impact in that match.

For instance, many will choose to request a bet for England to win a match and for Joe Root to be the team’s top runscorer in the match. Alternatively, the customer may request a price for England to win a match and Adil Rashid to take two or more wickets in the match.

When it comes to finding the right market for the right player and, indeed, the right match, conditions can play a huge part with certain bowlers thriving in certain conditions and being less effective in others.

James Anderson would invariably be the main focus when England play a Test match at home in conditions that suit his style of bowling and with a Dukes ball that he is so dangerous with.

Away from home, particularly in the subcontinent, swing bowlers such as Anderson are often less effective and customers would be minded to look elsewhere with the spinners often coming to the fore.

In this case, it is usually wise to consult stats with players’ past performances in certain countries and on certain grounds often a crucial pointer. As the old saying goes, ‘horses for courses,’ and this is a line that certainly rings true in cricket.

Outright markets are also available across series and are updated match by match. These can often allow customers to find some value if a player they like finds themselves behind in the wickets or runs charts but is fancied to bounce back to form later in the series, particularly if finding some form in domestic cricket between matches or if returning to a venue where they have enjoyed success at in the past.

For example, in the 2019 Ashes series, Pat Cummins fell behind Nathan Lyon after the first Test at Edgbaston as the off-spinner picked up six second-innings wickets on a wearing, turning pitch.

Nevertheless, Cummins’ consistency and patience was rewarded as he finished the series as the leading wicket-taker on either side, also rewarding those who stuck with the paceman between Tests.

When some series are expected to be one-sided affairs, customers may like to predict the correct series score and while there are variables such as the weather, injuries and loss of form to take into account here, the prices are often big and rewarding.

While Test cricket, and to some extent One-Day International cricket, remain predictable forms of the game, T20 cricket has proven much more explosive and often harder to predict.

Matches can turn in a single over with 20+ runs scored from a single over no longer out of the ordinary. As such, this has seen in-play betting become a key part of the product with many customers waiting to watch the flow of the match before deciding to make their play.

Once again, stats can be a crucial part of the puzzle here with some teams proving much better when chasing, and others better when defending totals, sometimes not overly big ones.

The Big Bash has proven to be one of the most successful Franchise competitions in the world and teams such as Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers and have enjoyed plenty of success when defending small totals, winning from positions that other teams wouldn’t have been able to do so.

Those to have watched those teams over years will have noted how their key bowlers, such as Rashid Khan for Adelaide, have consistently turned matches on their heads when coming on to bowl and siding with their team just before their bowling spell begins can often prove fruitful.

In addition to this, if you watch a player one day and feel they were unlucky to be dismissed cheaply or conversely, that they benefited from dropped catches or plenty of luck to make a big score, that would be something to bear in mind when looking at their individual Over or Under lines in the next match they play.

In the past, age has proven a barrier to success, particularly for fast bowlers, but new innovations with diet, nutrition and improved fitness levels has seen players enjoy success late into their careers with many opting to concentrate on the limited-overs forms of the game.

As the likes of MS Dhoni and Dan Christian have proven in recent years, age is often no barrier to success with experience proving so valuable on the big stage.

With long-term markets available throughout the year, around the world and covering all major competitions such as the 50-over and 20-over World Cups, those who follow the sport closely have the opportunity to put their knowledge to good use both in the short term and long term.