In recent history cricket has seen a worldwide growth in players, spectators and betting sites. The
amount of people enjoying the game has reached unprecedented levels with more juniors playing
the game than ever before.
Behind the boom has been the introduction of 20 over cricket. The shortened format of the game
has been targeted towards those that find the longer 4/5 day games too time consuming to watch.
Clubs around the world have reported massive increases in ticket sales for the twenty20 format of
the game often with clubs hosting games at time that people can access after work or school.
As the popularity of cricket continues to grow, so do the betting markets. One aspect of betting has
seen the biggest rise however, and that is of its inplay betting market. A host of separate markets
are available to bet on each game, many offering solid value for the punter. Here at inplaybettinglive.com we only cover live cricket betting strategies. For information on traditional cricket betting you can check out bettingsites.org.
The UK’s cricket boom has mainly been as benefactor of the 2005 Ashes victory. The Ashes are
arguably the pinnacle of the international season as fierce rivals England take on Australia over a 5
test series to win an urn which is only a few inches small. The urn is said to be over 100 years old and
contains the ashes of the bails that were used in the first ever match between the two teams. The
series was covered on terrestrial television with millions tuning in around the world and the nation
coming to a complete stand still for most of the series.
Cricket betting has not gone without its disruptions however, as over the years many claims
of match fixing and betting scandals have been ripe throughout the international scene. Most
recently three top Pakistani players were banned after being found guilty of bringing the game into
disrepute throughout a recent test match with England.
For many years cricket has seemed a dull and boring sport too many compared to the likes of
football, tennis and rugby. The past few years have engaged many into the game whilst also
increasing the exposure for bookmakers. Cricket betting gives just one of many reasons why people
may get involved in the sport. With the market size being smaller than most sports, the live betting
market can offer a great fluctuation in prices giving some excellent value along the way.
Major international competitions such as the World Cup and Twenty20 World Cup have seen
millions of pounds traded around the world on games that at one point carried little punch for
many serious gamblers. Over time it’s these bettors that have grasped this cricketing boom era with
both hands and at the end of the day, made a lot of money from what is now an exhilarating and
alternative sport.
What is live cricket betting?
Live cricket betting is basically an opportunity for you to bet on host of live markets that are affected
by exactly what happens throughout the game. The array of markets can differ greatly and some
may seem obscure, but it’s often the most obscure markets that can provide the most value.
Depending on which format of cricket you are watching (test match, ODI, twenty 20, domestic
leagues) can depend greatly on the different variations of bets for each game. The faster paced
twenty20 game will often produce more markets as the game is over in short space of time, meaning
the online bookies has to spend less time observing the game and setting lines. Test matches can last
up to 5 days meaning that fewer markets will be inplay, again due to timescale.
How does live cricket betting work?
Before any match (and any format) the internet bookies will set a line for each specific market of
which you can then bet on. As the match starts, the market will then turn to what is called ‘live’
or ‘inplay’ meaning the odds will start fluctuating on how the game is panning out, rather than how
much money is being wagered.
Each game can throw up different scenarios and rarely are two games ever the same. In the longer
formats of cricket (test matches and 4 day domestic games) draws are part and parcel of the results
process. These need to be taken into account before placing any bets on the outcome of the game.
Where can I find live cricket betting?
As we have mentioned, cricket betting is not the biggest form of sports betting by any means.
However, there are a host of the major internet bookies all integrating live cricket betting into their
markets. All major international games are covered with a host of domestic games thrown in for
good measure.
Using a betting exchange may be the best place to find the most comprehensive cricket betting
markets. Often the player to player betting will offer up better odds than that of a traditional
bookmaker with more choice for your bets also.
A growing trend in cricket betting is that of spread betting, a concept used widely throughout the US
but is slowly becoming more popular in the UK and Europe. We will mention more on cricket spread
betting later in this article.
What live cricket betting markets are available?
There are so many markets that you can bet on during a game that we simply don’t have time to
name them all. What we will do is go through the major markets and take a look at the best of the
more obscure ones whilst explaining what they are all about.
--> Match betting – available on pretty much every sport, your match betting market allows you
to bet on the outcome of the game. Some formats will include that of the draw, so make
sure you note this before placing your bet.
--> Next man out- you can bet on whichever batsmen you think will get out next as the game
progresses. These will change accordingly after each wicket. These markets can offer goodvalue by heading by selecting the batsmen that is newest to the crease. It’s no secret in
cricket that at the start of the innings can be tough for any batsmen whatever the conditions
or circumstances.
--> Selected over runs over/under line – for each over you can bet on the over or under line that
the bookmaker has set for the amount of runs they think will be scored. The average runs
per over in a game vary, but if you spend a bit of time finding out what the average run rate
of that specific innings is, then you can then compare that to the line set by the bookmaker
and adjust your bet accordingly.
--> Team total runs – here you can bet on the total amount of runs scored by a team in their
innings. Usually a bookmaker will again set the over or under line, but they will give 3
different over or under markets to choose from, including the shorter odds favourite to the
longer shot underdog.
--> Player total runs – as a game progresses the batsmen that are currently occupying the
crease will have markets of their own meaning you can bet on the amount of runs you think
they will get in that innings. Once again the bookmaker will set an over or under line with 3
different markets available to bet on.
--> Draw no bet- this market basically eliminates the draw result. So you can back either team
and in the event of a draw your stake is returned. Be warned that more often than not the
odds will be smaller than backing the outright results markets.
--> Next wicket dismissal – here you can choose how you think the next batsmen will be out.
Often the market will just be something like “6th wicket, caught?” and you select either yes
or no from here.
--> Fall of next wicket – you can bet on what you think the score will be when the next wicket
falls. For this you will get a series of score parameters of which your batsmen will need to be
out in for you to win that bet.
Live Betting tips
A lot of the following tips can be adapted into most kinds of sport betting, but let’s take a look at
how important they are for cricket betting with some top inplay betting tips.
--> Weather conditions – Cricket is one of the few sports that it massively affected by the
weather conditions. For example, the game simply won’t be played in any rain whatsoever
and if the light is bad, the players will also either not take the field or leave the field. The
weather also has a massive affect on how the pitch will play. An overcast, muggy day means
the ball will be perfectly suited to swinging about making batting conditions very tricky and
bowling conditions almost perfect. A clear, dry day will be well suited for batting as the ball
will do little through the air. If there is some way you can predict how the pitch will play or
will react (I.E look at past games at that ground and see what has been going on) then you
can use this to your advantage before making any bets.
--> Cricket discipline – Cricket has many different disciplines of the sport, from the longer 5 day
test matches to the quick fire 20 over format. Each discipline requires different skills, so look
to the team that you wanting to bet on and see how well they are adapted to that format of
the game.
--> Team form – This can be used for most sports, but still it’s worth pointing out here. Make
sure you do your homework and see what sort of form each team is in. A team can be playing badly but still go into the game as favourite merely through reputation.
Its situations like this where we might be able to pick up a good value bet. Following
up on that is the head to heads between the two teams. See who has had the upper
hand in that specific format of the game over the past few meetings.
--> Dig deep with your research – when betting on inplay markets you will be looking
towards amount of runs/wickets in a game. Check over past scores to see how many
runs or wickets the tea is making/taking. Then, armed with this information, go back
to your online bookmaker and look to see if your research provides you with any
possible good bets.
--> Be alert – try to anticipate what could happen in a game and how that will affect the
respected market. For this it’s imperative that you are on hand and watching the
game so any bets you make can be made in a split second to take advantage of any
overreaction in the market.
Cricket Spread Betting
We’ve briefly touched on spread betting earlier in the article, so let’s look a little closer.
Spread betting is a concept of betting whereas internet bookies set a line on host of markets
that get turned inplay once a match or game starts.
Its then up to the punter to choose whether they want to take the over or under on this initial
line. How it works is that for every point over or under the line set, you either make or
lose money. So, if you bet £1 a point on the over of 400 runs in a cricket match and the team
you backed scored 450 runs, then you would win £50 as it was 50 over the initial line. Now if
you had bet the under on 400 runs and they scored 450 runs then you would lose £50 as you
then have to make up the 50 points gap from the initial line.
As you can see the market can be very risk reward, but can offer up some very competitive
lines if you are willing to shop around your spread betting sites for some good value bets.
