First things first, when gambling on cricket and any other sport, it is important that you find a safe and reliable sportsbook that offers fantastic odds. Top sportsbooks such as 888 Sport will offer a variety of ways for bets on cricket.
The Basics
Accumulators have become one of the most popular ways of betting due to the excitement of having a number of linked bets to enhance winning odds. Joining four or more individual bets together to get an overall price on the combined bets coming in often gives greater odds, though if one of the bets doesn’t come off, the whole accumulator is lost.
These risky bets are one of the best ways of enhancing your odds for those who have confidence in their picks and many seasoned veterans (or beginners who experienced some blind luck) have hit it big from doing so.
There are many types of bets which can be placed separately or as part of an accumulator specific to cricket which are listed below:
- Match Betting
This is simply a bet on which side you think will win the specific match. A simple bet to place, it is often a very popular one with cricket fans due to its straightforward selection from only 3 variables, home team win, away team win or draw.
- Completed Match
For one day matches, cricket fans will be aware of the chance of matches not being finished on the day due to external factors such as the weather. This is a popular one in countries such as England, which is not known for its sunny beaches to say the least. The unpredictable climate at times during the cricket season can force cricket matches to be put on hold.
- Innings Runs
Not many would dare to predict the exact number of runs in an innings, but sportsbooks will offer over/under odds. A number of runs will be posted with odd on more or less to be scored, giving the punter the chance to wager on there being a high or low scoring match.
- Top Bowler or Batsman
Here the punter has the opportunity to predict which bowler will take the most wicket during a match, and if it is tied, whichever bowler gives up the least runs. For batsman it is who will score the most runs, and if it is tied it will be who did it in the least balls.
- Tournament Outright Winner
During cricket tournaments such as the upcoming T20 World Cup, punters are able to place their bets on who they believe will be the outright winner of the tournament. Here odds will be short for the favourites, so value often comes with being part of an accumulator or backing an underdog to win.
- Series Winner
It is common for two sides or countries in cricket to arrange a series of matches to be played rather than one off games. A series is made up of multiple matches in a row and punters can bet on the team they feel will win the entire series, not just individual matches.
- Over/Under Score
Sportsbooks will offer a number of runs and punters have the option to choose if there will be more or less runs than the total on offer from a specific team.
- Win Toss
One that even those with no knowledge of the sport can wager on; it is not tied to performance at all as it is solely based on which team wins the coin toss to decide if they want to bat of field first.
- Most Run Outs
Another straightforward bet for punters to go for is deciding which team will have the most run outs at the end of the match or series.
- Man of the Match/Player of the Series.
Like in most sports, a player is awarded the man of the match award, and in cricket there is also the player of the series. With these bets you can wager on the best performing player in either a one-off game or over a full series.
Pitch Variation Matters
Understanding the four types of pitches is also very important when betting on cricket. Green pitches are often called ‘batsman’s graveyards’ due to their soft and uneven surfaces making it difficult to judge the movement of the ball.
Damp pitches leave batsman having to predict a lesser bounce and swing, making it a good pitch for all types of bowlers.
Dead pitches are more batsman friendly, where the wickets are hard and have no grass on them. These pitches are most suited to T20 and ODI’s giving teams the chance to build high scores and offer exciting matches to the spectators.
Finally, dry and dusty pitches are soft but not rolled which lets the ball grip and turn. Familiar in countries like India, spinners have the ideal conditions here, which is why the countries with these pitches produce such strong spin bowlers. Captains will always look to bat first if they win the toss here, as the conditions more favourable in early stages of the match.
(An Example of Elite Spin Bowling)
Understanding the styles of the teams and the type of pitch the match will be played on will help in identifying which bets are the most favourable. With so many different options available to punters to bet on cricket, there will be an option for all to see where they think they can find value, especially when combining into an accumulator.