How to bet on Cricket – A beginner’s guide

With the Cricket World Cup just around the corner, and it also being a year where The Ashes are contested, there’s hardly been so much focus on cricket.

The Cricket World Cup is a One Day International round-robin and knockout tournament that gets underway on Thursday 30th May and finishes on Sunday 14th July, with England and Wales playing host.

Ahead of the tournament getting started, Coral have put together a handy guide on what you need to know about the sport, and how to place a bet on individual matches and the tournament.

Read our betting guide to discover all you need to know to bet on the cricket. You can also find the latest outright Cricket World Cup odds here.

How cricket works

The Cricket World Cup is contested in the one-day cricket format. These matches consist of 50 overs per side, with each side taking turns to bat following a coin toss. The tournament is usually held every four years.

The West Indies won the first two Cricket World Cup tournaments, beating Australia and England in the final. Since then, India, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia have all won the trophy.

India have won the tournament twice, with Australia picking up five Cricket World Cup tournament wins. England have finished as runners-up three times.

England and Wales are the hosts of the Cricket World Cup this year and the Barmy Army will be on hand to give the team a much appreciated boost.

The Cricket World Cup isn’t the only international tournament to adopt this game format. The ICC Trophy is also a one-day international tournament.

Alongside the One-Day International format, there are alternative cricket match formats.

International sides play five-day test matches. They rarely do these as a one-off game, and they usually form a three, four or five match series. This is the longest form of the game, with teams usually declaring on a high score if they feel they’ve put the game out of reach to the opposition. The Ashes follows this format of the game.

Finally, the shortest format of the game is twenty-twenty cricket. These matches consist of twenty overs per side, and have recently become a global phenomenon, taking over the cricket scene and bringing in a new breed of fans to the sport. There are many different tournaments that have been created to adopt the T20 format.

The Indian Premier League is the biggest club tournament, with England having the T20 Cup and Australia hosting the Big Bash League. Clubs can also compete in the Champions League Twenty20 depending on their performance in their national T20 tournaments.

How to bet on cricket

Cricket allows for pre-game betting and in-play betting, opening up a wider range of markets to enhance your enjoyment and experience of the game.

Some of the most popular pre-match bets on cricket are common markets such as the match winner, how the test match will end and whether the match will be completed. There are also markets for top scoring batsman, total runs in the match and number of wickets to be taken. You can check out the latest odds here.

In-play betting opens up the opportunity for new markets with more variables. These markets can range from total runs to be scored by a batsman before being dismissed, to how many balls it will take for the next wicket to be taken. Others markets also include number of fours and sixes hit by batsman and/or by team, and how many runs will be scored in each session.

How cricket betting works

There are several things to consider when you bet on cricket. Form of the player isn’t everything, but it does play a huge role in the odds. If you see a player renowned for being world-class at higher odds, they are likely to have been in a slump in recent games.

The game format would also need to be considered, as some players are suited to the longer format of the game and may not be as effective in the quicker formats. Chris Gayle is renowned for being one of the biggest hitters in the short formats of the game, but he holds back on his ball-smashing abilities in the longer format due to the increased likelihood of making a mistake and being dismissed.

It’s also worth considering the pitch conditions. Doing your research is key when you’re betting on any sport, but pitch and ball conditions have a major influence on cricket matches. Factors such as cloud cover and weather forecasts should be looked at to see what type of wicket can be expected, and whether it would favour a big hitting approach, fast bowler or a spinner.

You should also always consider and research the stadia that matches are being played at. Due to the age of some of the grounds, not every cricket venue has the same size boundaries, and this can allow for different types of matches.

If the match is being played at a venue with a considerably smaller boundary, then it’s increasingly likely that it will be a fast scoring game with lots of runs scored, so it could be worth looking at the batting markets.

If the game is being played at a venue with a larger boundary, it could be worth looking into the bowling markets as batters would have to take more risks to get the biggest rewards. The risks that batters would have to take would include big hitting, and therefore it is likely that could turn into more wickets.

Betting on the Cricket World Cup

There are a wide range of markets that are available for the Cricket World Cup, with both pre-game and in-play markets.

Hosts England are favourites to win the tournament, with India, Australia and New Zealand close behind in the running.

Prior to the tournament, you can also find markets such as top tournament runscorer, where Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow are the favourites, top tournament wicket taker, where Pat Cummings, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult lead the way in the betting, group stage winner, which teams will reach the semi-final or final stage, and more.

Match winner, top batsman, top wicket taker, total sixes and total runs are some of the main markets that are bet on during the course of the Cricket World Cup.

If you choose to bet in-play, you’ll have access to markets such as total runs by current batsmen, when the next wicket will fall, number of fours and sixes by current batsmen and methods of dismissal.

There’s also a chance to win a huge Cash Prize in the latest edition of the Coral Smart Money Series. Answer 10 questions on the Cricket World Cup correctly to win a share of £100K!

View the latest cricket odds at Coral.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.