How To Bet On Cricket – Guide For Beginners

The cricket world is huge. There are innumerable matches every week, in enough different formats to make your head spin! All these different formats, different rules, different players and teams may seem like enough to bowl you over, but we think that once you understand the formats and few key terms you will be eager to take cricket betting for a spin!

Table of Contents

• Cricket Terms You Need To Know
• What Is an Over In Cricket?
• What Is an Innings In Cricket?
• Test Cricket Vs. ODI’s vs T20 – Understanding The Main Differences
• Types of Cricket Bet
• The Coin Toss
• Innings Runs
• Player Bets
• Team Bets
• Biggest Cricket Betting Mistakes
• No Knowledge of the Sport
• Emotional Gambling
• Chasing Losses
• Most Popular Cricket Events To Bet On
• Cricket World Cup
• Indian Premier League
• The Ashes
• How To Bet on Cricket With Lottoland

Cricket Terms You Need To Know

If you are completely new sport betting, then we would suggest that you review our guides on the types of sport bet and how to read the different types of odds you may encounter.

As with any sports bet, before you start betting on cricket you should have at least a basic understand of the sport and its different formats. To help you on your way, here is an overview of the most important terms and formats in cricket.

What Is an Over In Cricket?

An “over” is when the bowling team delivers six bowls to the opposing team. Ass you would expect, these bowls are from one end of the wicket to the other and they must be legal deliveries. Each over will then contribute to help to make up an innings. What is an innings?! I hear you ask! Well, I’m glad you asked…

What Is an Innings In Cricket?

So, we now know that there are six bowls in an over. Now you need to know what an Innings is in cricket. Essentially, an innings is the amount of time a person or a team spends batting. The number of overs in an innings varies depending on the cricket format you are referring to. Let’s take a look at how that affects the three most popular formats of the sport; Test, One Day International (ODI) and T20 cricket.

Test Cricket Vs. ODI’s vs T20 – Understanding The Main Differences

Test Cricket, One Day Internationals and T20 are the three main types of cricket that can bet on with Lottoland. Before you even begin to consider betting on cricket, it is a non-negotiable and essential that you understand the differences between these three formats.

Test Cricket is the traditional format that has been around for over 140 years. Test matches are long – usually played over a period of five days with each team having innings to bowl and bat twice. The most important distinction between Tests and the other formats is that there is no limit to the number of overs that can be played in a day, meaning that matches can become much more strategic in nature.

Conversely, One Day Internationals (ODI’s)are usually limited to 50 overs per innings. When overs are limited, the focus of the game becomes less on strategy and more on striking the right balance between bowling and batting. Whilst ODI’s are considered to be much faster and aggressive than Test Cricket, it comes nowhere close to the explosive nature of T20.

As the name hints at, in T20 cricket innings are limited to just 20 overs. This has an almost transformative effect on the matches that become almost unrecognisable from test Cricket. T20 games are usually extremely high scoring, fast and filled with aggressive batting and crowd-pleasing moments.

Types of Cricket Bet

Now you know your inning from your over and your T20 from your ODI, you are ready to explore some of the most popular cricket bets. These bets differ to the generic types of sport bet that can apply to almost any sport. Here we are only going to look at bets that are specifically tailored for batting at the crease!

The Coin Toss

If you are looking for a bet that will be settled as quickly as possible, the betting on the coin toss is the bet you need! Before the match has even begun, the coin toss will take place. This will dictate which team will have the right to decide about whether their team will bat or field first. As you may expect, there are only two possible outcomes to this bet – either Team A or Team B wins.

Innings Runs

In cricket betting, betting on the amount of runs in a specific innings is one of the most popular markets. To place this type of bet, you simply need to choose an innings and decide whether you think the batting team’s number of runs will be over or under a specific amount. Remember to note which format of cricket you are betting on, as it may be expected that there are more runs in a T20 innings than in Test Cricket.

Player Bets

In the same way that you can bet whether or not a team will score more than a specific number of runs, you can also bet on the performance of individual players. However, the player market offers more options than simply betting on the number of runs scored in an innings, including whether a player will score 50 or 100 runs.

Team Bets

Team bets offer the option to bet on a specific team’s overall performance when it comes batting and bowling. With these bets you can bet which team will have the best bowler, the best batter, will score the most fours or get the most sixes. This is in addition to the traditional sports bets about who will win the match up and whether or not there will be a draw.

Biggest Cricket Betting Mistakes

Nobody is perfect, and the past many people have made the same mistakes again and again when it comes to cricket betting. The good news for you is that while people made these mistakes in the past, you don’t have to!

No Knowledge of the Sport

By reading this guide you are well on your way to avoiding making this mistake, but for most novice betters this is the number one mistake. You simply cannot bet on cricket (or any sport for that matter) with no knowledge and expect to be profitable. Sure, you might get lucky betting blindly, but over the long term you are extremely unlikely to beat the bookie.

To put yourself in the best position possible, expand your knowledge of the sport beyond this article. Get to know the best batters and bowlers, the best teams and try to understand why a hard cricket pitch favours fast bowlers while a soft pitch favours spin bowlers.

Emotional Gambling

When we support our club or guilty, we have all been guilty of letting our emotions get in the way of common sense – and that’s fine! A big part of the fun of being a fan isa being allowed to dream of the success of your team, even it seems impossible!

However, letting emotions get in the way of your betting is a different matter and is to be avoided entirely. Letting your emotions cloud your judgement in betting can end up costing you money. On the other hand, using your common sense and betting based on solid research can have the opposite effect!

Chasing Losses

Chasing losses is one of the biggest mistakes, not just in cricket betting, but in gambling in general. It happens when someone loses a bet, then they think they need to bet just once more so that they can win enough to cover that loss. The problem is, what happens if that bet also loses? And the next one? And the next, and the next and the next? Do yourself a favour and never start chasing losses either in the casino or in sports betting.

Most Popular Cricket Events To Bet On

One of the great things about cricket is that there so many different formats, tournaments, and matchups. The sport has evolved so much in recent years that there are more and more exciting events to enjoy. The three events below are some of the most popular to both watch and bet on: The World Cup, Indian Premier League and The Ashes

Cricket World Cup

The ICC World Cup is played every four years by the best One Day International (ODI) teams in the world. As a ODI event, there are only two innings in World Cup matches, however each inning usually has around 50 overs which can result in the games being slightly less attacking than in T20.

As an international tournament, betting on the Cricket World Cup opens up the possibility of betting on the overall tournament performance of different teams and players, as well as on specific matches.

Indian Premier League

Based on T20, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is considered by many to be the most exciting cricket competition in the world. This is thanks to the rapid-fire nature of its 20 overs per innings set up, which encourages aggressive and attacking play.

The league is made up of eight teams from different cities and states in India, with its fourteen game program played out between March and May every year  Thanks to its quicker format, the IPL and its Australian cousin - Big Bash League – is great way for beginners to introduce themselves to the world of cricket.

The Ashes

While the IPL and Cricket World Cup are two of the most popular cricket tournaments in the world, The Ashes may be the world’s most famous cricket match-up. For those unfamiliar, The Ashes is a Test match played between old rivals Australia and England. The two teams will contest five different Test matches, with each Test lasting up to five days. 

The Ashes may seem like a long slog to an outsider, but the strategic nature of the games adds an extra layer of drama that cannot be found in the shorter formats of the game. Of course, for betters the longer nature also opens more markets to wager on and the opportunity to bet on the oldest rivalry in the sport.

How To Bet on Cricket With Lottoland

Having read this guide, you should now know the most popular cricket bets, tournaments and betting mistakes.  If you are ready to get started, you can bet on cricket with Lottoland in just a matter of minutes. All you need to do is register your account, deposit funds, and choose your event!