Cricket Betting at Bally Bet Sportsbook

Although it’s still gaining in traction in North America, did you know that cricket is one of the most-watched sports on the planet?

It’s a popular sport to bet on too — teams in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres play cricket, meaning that there’s year-round action to enjoy.

With three different formats – Tests, one-day games, and T20s – and a host of new innovative takes, such as The Hundred, cricket betting offers a huge number of wagering opportunities each and every year.

In this article, we’ll show you how to bet on cricket, how to read the sport's lines, what the most popular cricket bet types are, and much more besides.

By the time you’ve read through this guide, you’ll feel ready to place your first cricket wager right here at Bally Bet.

How to Read Cricket Betting Odds

The first item on the agenda when it comes to cricket betting is understanding how to read the odds.

Clearly, it’s of utmost importance that you know exactly what you’re wagering on. That way, you can place your bets with confidence.

One of the first bits of cricket bet advice to remember is that tied games are rare, to say the least, in some formats of the sport. Yes, you will see ties in Test cricket, but in one-day and T20 games the only way there can be a tie is if the teams’ scores are level, which in cricket is a rarity indeed.

So, most moneyline odds in cricket are two-way bets – that is, there are only two possible outcomes: Team A or Team B will win.

If you wager on a Test, you'll see odds for Team A, Team B, and a tie. But otherwise, you’ll be presented cricket betting odds as follows:

• England -200

• Australia +150

In a two-way market, the selection that has a minus symbol (-) next to their odds is considered to be the favorite. In this case, the number shows how much you’d have to wager to win $100.

So, if you bet $200 on England, you’d claim $100 in profit if they won the game, as well as getting your stake returned. Remember, you don’t actually have to bet $200 — this is just a guideline. A $2 wager on England pays $1 of profit, a $20 bet wins $10, and so on.

Alternatively, you may prefer betting on the underdog. In a two-way market, this is indicated by the plus sign (+) next to the odds. The number shows how much you’d win on a $100 bet.

So, in the example above, a $100 wager on Australia would yield profit of $150. Similarly, smaller bets would be paid out proportionately. $1 would win $1.50, $10 would net $15, and so on, with your original stake paid back to you.

The exception to this rule is when you bet on an outright market, such as the Cricket World Cup. Here, you’ll see a list of odds on each country to lift the trophy. The likelihood is that each of them will be available as positive odds:

• India (+150)

• England (+200)

• Australia (+300)

• New Zealand (+500)

Popular Cricket Bets

Now that you know how to bet on cricket, you can start to explore the best cricket bets available.

Every bettor’s definition of "best" is unique to them, although some of the most popular cricket bet types include:

Game Winner (Moneyline)

You may have already wagered on moneyline odds in sports like football, basketball, and baseball. The lines work in much the same way when it comes to cricket as well.

Simply, you are wagering on the team that you think will win the game. The actual details of the game aren't that significant — as long as your team gets the W, your bet will be settled as a winner.

Total Runs (Over/Under)

You may have seen the totals markets in football or basketball, where the object is to decide whether the game will go over or under the given line in terms of total points scored.

There’s a similar market available in cricket, but this relates to the total number of runs scored in the game.

You'll get a total run line by the book, and if you think the game will be a high-scoring contest you might opt to wager over the line. Conversely, if you believe the bowlers will dominate the batters, you might instead opt for the under line.

First Innings Score

Similar to the total runs market, you can bet on the over and under lines for the first innings of the game, which often proves so pivotal in determining the outcome of a contest.

You can use some of the cricket betting tips detailed later in this article as a basis for placing your first innings score bets.

Top Batter & Top Bowler

You'll often see a list of players as you check out cricket odds, each of whom will have been given a line in the top batter and top bowler categories.

Top batter bets are settled according to the player that scores the most runs in the game. The top bowler market, meanwhile, is dictated by who takes the most wickets in the contest.

Before placing your bets, make sure to confirm which market you’re wagering on. For some games, the top batter and top bowler markets are for the overall game, but sometimes you can bet on the top bowler or batter for each team.

Player of the Match

A judging panel will award the Player of the Match trophy to the individual who they think has done more than anyone else to influence the outcome of the game.

Again, you’ll see a list of players to choose from, such as:

• Virat Kohli (+600)

• Glenn Maxwell (+800)

• Jonny Bairstow (+800)

• Shikhar Dhawan (+900)

• Cameron Green (+1000)

To win the Player of the Match award, the individual must put in a stellar performance. For a batter, that means racking up a large score, while for bowlers it could be taking crucial wickets at key times in the contest.

Cricket Betting Tips

Watch the coin toss

It’s amazing how pivotal the toss of the coin can be in determining the result of cricket games. Whoever guesses correctly can decide whether they want to bat or bowl first, using the weather and playing conditions as a basis for their decision.

So, the coin toss can be a decisive factor in cricket. As such, it’s recommended that you wait for the outcome of the toss before placing your bets — timing your wagers appropriately is an important bit of advice when it comes to cricket betting.

Keep an eye on the weather

In most sports, the conditions play a part in how the contest shapes up, and this is very much the case in cricket. It's especially significant in the longer-form Test games, which are played over the course of five days. Here, not only can the weather be helpful to batters and bowlers at different times, but the pitch will become worn and tired by the fifth day.

At this point, the ball can spin more dramatically, while the bounce can be lower too. Often times, bowling last can be an advantage, especially in hot countries in Asia where pitches tend to suffer the worst wear and tear.

Where there’s heavy cloud cover and humidity in the air, the ball tends to swing laterally through the air, giving the bowlers an advantage over the batters.

So, if you want to increase your chances of success when betting on cricket, taking the time to study the local weather forecast – and trying to map out how it will affect each team at specific points – is a smart move.

Check out the laws of the game

Of course, you’ll want to know about all of the key cricket rules and betting terms too. Runs, wickets, innings, modes of dismissal, fours, sixes — these are just some of the terms you’ll encounter when wagering on cricket.

Cricket Betting App

As with other sports, you can place your cricket bets before the game has started. But remember that it's sensible to wait for the coin toss, because the odds will likely move once this has been completed and it's known who will be batting in the first innings.

But there’s plenty of logic to wagering in-play in cricket too. This is such a fluid and dynamic sport, where games seem to change in the blink of an eye when a wicket falls or a batter accelerates the scoring.

The good news is that live odds are readily available here at Bally Bet, and they're on an app that's built to make placing bets simpler and quicker than ever.

Our app comes with the same perks you'd get when playing through our website, with the added benefit of being able to access all of your favorite bet types in just a few of taps of your smartphone or tablet.

You can easily wager on the move too, because - let’s face it - you’re unlikely to be sat on the sofa for all five days of a Test match.

Cricket betting with the Bally Bet app means you can access pregame and live cricket odds quickly and easily, and place wagers in a matter of seconds. Why not take it for a spin today?