Cricket’s Strategic Complexity Makes it an Exciting Betting Option

Cricket is one of the world’s oldest sports, and has a reputation for being a relatively slow game, but while some versions of the game can indeed take several days, that same complexity makes it an ideal sport for betting, as long as you understand the nuances.

As a quick check of any betting advice site like match.center will show, the cricket betting fan can choose from a diverse range of cricket betting markets covering everything from national Twenty20 competitions to the World Test Championship, and that variety, combined with several other factors intrinsic to the game makes cricket the ideal betting option.

Variety of Formats

While the basic game of cricket is one of bat against ball, that simple formula allows for enormous variety in competition and format. Over the years, cricket has been played over one or two innings, in a single afternoon or more than a week.

In the first years of cricket’s mass popularity, during the 18th century, one day games that finished in an afternoon were played for huge sums of money in London, while timeless Test matches could last for an indefinite number of days.

In the modern era, limited overs games have ranged from 10 overs per side to 60 overs per side, and the associated tactics have changed to match. This means that there is a huge choice of cricket formats for the sports bettor, enabling you to find and specialise in your preferred version of the game.

Abundance of Statistics

Cricket is a high scoring game, and while the statistical element involved in following cricket does not yet match that of baseball, there is a wealth of data available for bettors who like to use numbers at the heart of their betting strategy.

Perhaps even more advantageous is the fact that official and easily available cricket stats are not particularly comprehensive, so there are opportunities for those who are prepared to dig a little to find metrics and statistical measures of which other bettors will be unaware.

Nature’s Role in Cricket Betting

The environment plays a bigger role in cricket than any other team sport. The state of the pitch, which in turn is influenced by the weather, can have a huge impact on the way that a game develops and the strategies of the teams involved. Pitches and climates can vary wildly from one city or country to the next. For example, a dry, cracked pitch will assist spin bowlers, fast bowlers will thrive on hard, bouncy pitches, and swing bowlers excel in humid conditions.

Many of these factors are more or less permanent, particularly in international cricket, where cricket grounds in different countries tend to be associated with certain natural traits:

Knowing the specifics of how the environment affects the play at each country and at each ground, and what implications this has for the way that a game will unfold can give shrewd cricket bettors an edge and increase their chances of making a profit.

Live Cricket Betting

Some sports are more suitable for live in-play betting than others and cricket is one of the best when it comes to this form of betting. Even the shortest forms of the game feature delays between deliveries, overs and innings, and in those games such as Test cricket, that last several days, there are long pauses between sessions of play.

This means that cricket bettors can adjust their live betting and tweak their strategies to a far greater extent than would be possible with most sports, where live betting often involves rapid reflexes and split-second calculations.

How to Bet on Cricket Safely

Cricket is a complex game, in which pitch conditions, weather, format changes and rules can all affect the outcome of a match, leading to opportunities for cricket bettors who do their homework.

One factor that remains the same in cricket, as for all sports betting is that you should always bet safely. Never bet with money that you cannot afford to lose and always set strict limits on the time and money that you spend on your cricket betting.