Cricket Betting at Bet UK

Cricket betting offers plenty of different opportunities and markets to bet on. Bet UK's online betting has markets on major cricket matches, from county cricket games to the biggest test matches. Cricket Betting doesn’t stop when the match starts either, there is a huge selection of in-play markets throughout the match.

Some say cricket is the second most popular sport on the planet, with an estimated three billion fans worldwide. With its unique pace and fierce yet friendly rivalries, cricket can also be enormously entertaining and - with a bit of luck - potentially a rewarding sport to bet on.

The rich nuances and subtlety of cricket make it a wonderful game to immerse yourself in. There are all manner of different codes with short, sharp limited-over contests through to Test matches that stretch over days, which means there are plenty of options when it comes to cricket betting.

Developing a detailed understanding of cricket opens up the tremendous potential to unearth some value bets and the prospect of solid profits. But first, you need to arm yourself with a little knowledge of how the game works.

Best Cricket Odds

Looking for the best cricket odds around a wide range of tournaments ranging from the competitions that happen every year such as the Indian Premier League to the tournaments that happen on occasions such as every two years or every four years. As for the formatting of the odds, these don't change between sports, so for all sports betting markets odds will be formatted the same in either a fractional, decimal or American format. For cricket odds, we recommend using fractional betting odds as it's easier to read than the alternatives.

Cricket Betting Markets

Cricket betting offers another opportunity for Bet UK to bring a range of markets to our players. Cricket is a sport that can have lots of different events and possibilities, in both test matches and in Twenty20. Bets can be placed on the highest individual score, whether or not there will be a 100 hit, or even as simple as which team will win the toss. If you want to get a bit more in-depth with your cricket betting, then betting markets such as top bowlers or top batsmen might be more up your street.

All Cricket Betting Markets

Match Odds - Bet on the team who are going to win the match.

Toss Winner - Bet the the team who are going to win the coin toss.

Top Run Scorer - Bet on either the top run scorer for a team or the whole game.

Player Runs - Bet on the number of runs scored by individual players. Whether they'll score a century or a half century and more!

Player of the Match - Bet on the player who will receive the player of the match prize at the end of the game.

Top Wicket Taker - Bet on which bowler will take the most wickets during a game. Commonly, you will find wicket keepers aren't included in markets for the top wicket taker.

Totals - Bet on the best opening partnership, individual score totals and the total run-outs in matches.

Match Events - Bet on the number of 4s, 6s, highest opening partnership and other individual events such as the Super Over.

Fifty/Century - Bet on whether a player scores either a half-century or full-century during the game.

1st ball/1st over - Bet on the outcome of the first ball or the first over.

Dismissals - Bet on the way the first dismissal will happen.

2023 Cricket Betting

There aren't any major competitions at international level in 2023. However, we will see the final of the ICC World Test Championship, which looks set to be between Australia and India, two nations that will look to put their 2022 T20 World Cup performances behind them as England went on to beat Pakistan in the final of the tournament. Online Cricket bets imply that Australia are the most likely team to win, this is due to the fact that at the start of the year, they look pretty much guaranteed to make the final while India's place is still up to grabs. We'll still have national competitions such as the county championship and the Pakistan Super League.

Betting On Different Cricket Formats

Before betting on cricket it’s sensible to ensure that you have a good understanding of the range of options available. You might also find it useful to review how betting odds work so that you’re able to understand the risks and rewards on offer in cricket betting markets. Essentially cricket takes three forms split between international and domestic tournaments:

Betting on Test Match Cricket

Test cricket is played out over five days in internationals and four days between English counties. It’s a form of the game that usually attracts a lot of attention on the international stage.

Betting On One Day Cricket

One day cricket is a game played in a day with a maximum of 50 overs for one-day internationals (ODI) and 40 overs domestically.

Betting On Twenty20 (T20) Cricket

Initially developed to provide an opportunity to enjoy the sport at a faster pace, T20 cricket is played over an afternoon or evening either in club tournaments or internationally and is limited to just 20 overs.

Betting On International Cricket

International cricket offers a range of betting options, with the top teams taking part in various competitions either annually, every two years or every four years. There are a number of countries in which cricket is popular and it is these nations that typically dominate on the international stage, including England, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

Cricket World Cup Betting

Internationally, the Cricket World Cup is the biggest tournament in the sport, coming around every four years. 10 teams qualify for the championship which is played in the one day format. Each team faces each other in a single big pool before the top four compete in the semi-finals and then the final. Betting on the Cricket World Cup provides a range of opportunities, including wagers on individual matches as well as the overall winner.

Alongside the World Cup runs a series of international Test contests which run through assorted cycles between pairs of nations.

Betting On The Ashes Cricket

One of the most famous regular clashes in cricket is the Ashes, which has been contested between Australia and England since 1892. Huge interest in the biennial event affords lots of betting opportunities and around the world vast sums of cash are wagered on every possible outcome with intense partisan pride at stake. Betting on the ashes usually comes down to picking which of the two rivals will end up as the winner, while there are also a number of in-game bets and other options available as well.

In the Twenty20 game, the T20 World Cup was launched in 2007 and pits 16 international teams against one another in the limited-overs format. The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup is said to have been the most-watched female sporting competition in history.

Cricket Betting Useful Terms

If you understand cricket, then cricket betting markets and terms should be quite self-explanatory. But just in case you are new to cricket betting, Bet UK have put together a list of some markets to help you out.

Match Winner - This is one of the most popular cricket betting markets in the UK as it is also the simplest, if you back a team to win and they lose, you will lose, alternatively, you can pick a team to win and if they do, you'll see returns, similarly to all online betting sites.

Number of Boundaries - The number of boundaries cricket betting market is the number of times that the ball is hit for either a 4 or a 6 throughout the match.

Series Winner - The Series Winner market is for the winner of the overall test series, rather than just the one match. Best value for cricket betting will be found before the series starts, but the market will be available throughout.

Highest Opening Partnership - The Highest Opening Partnership cricket betting market lets you bet on which teams opening 2 batsmen will score the most runs while out together. For example, if England played Australia, you would be betting whether or not England’s opening 2 batsmen would score more runs than Australia’s opening 2.

Top Batsman Betting - For this Cricket betting market, it can be altered depending on whether you're betting on cricket matches or cricket tournaments. In a cricket match, this will be based on the highest-scoring player in the match. However, if you bet on this for the World Cup, you''ll be backing the top batsman for the entire World Cup tournament, for cricket bets, it is definitely worth picking a player who you think will make it to the final.

Cricket betting is divided into many fractions and choices of alternatives. Amongst them, one is Top batsman, which refers to the fixture’s most prominent batsman. You have to select the player who is likely to become the most scoring batsman in the fixture and put your wager on that educated guess.

Domestic Cricket Betting

The Indian Premier League is the world’s biggest club competition. Played in the T20 format over six weeks in April, the razzmatazz and hype are like nothing else in cricket. Nationally, England has its T20 Cup and Australia hosts the Big Bash League each year.

In England and Wales, domestic competition centres around county cricket with 18 first-class clubs playing in the County Championship and 19 further sides in the Minor Counties Championship. Both leagues operate a home and away fixture set-up with four-day matches played out.

How To Bet On Test Cricket

The nature of Test match cricket sets it up perfectly for the strategic bettor. With games straddling five days, each session lasts two hours with around 30 overs played in each.

Because of the length of a Test match, the conditions and pattern of play can vary enormously throughout the contests. The natural breaks in action though allow fans to take stock of where the action, and the betting markets, are heading.

The variables in Test cricket can be huge. Weather plays a significant role, as does the condition of the wickets. Tactical tweaks are a feature throughout each Test. Some players are naturally suited to Test match cricket and some more to the shorter formats.

Even the pre-match toss of a coin - to decide who bats or bowls first - will influence how the session and the day’s play pans out, as does the state of the ball which is in play.

Unlike many team sports, draws are not uncommon in Test cricket and can be used as an intended tactic for either side in order to “save the day” and salvage a little pride. In cricket, a draw is not the same as a tie either. A tie occurs when the scores are equal, and a draw is declared when the two teams essentially end the match without a clear winner.

How To Bet On One Day Cricket

One Day and T20 cricket are hugely popular worldwide with stratospheric audiences, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

The focus in one-day cricket matches switches somewhat because rather than the chess-like strategies employed in Test cricket, the whole aim is to get runs, and quickly.

This means that more aggressive tactics are employed with power plays, and batsmen suited to the task, are much more of a feature in each team’s approach. From a spectator's point of view, matches are over in less than a day meaning that in-play cricket betting moves right to the fore.

Markets can fluctuate rapidly during the action which then requires nimble attention to how play is going and quick-fire bets are in order to maximise the odds on offer and the value that can be achieved.

How To Bet On T20 Cricket

T20 cricket essentially elevates the excitement of the one-day version at an even faster pace. With only 20 overs to rack up a winning score, each team is limited to just 80 minutes in which to do so.

A draw is impossible in T20 cricket too as the rules don’t allow it. If there is a tie after regular play, each team nominates three batsmen and one bowler to face-off in a single “Super Over”. If a team loses two wickets in those six balls, they lose the game outright and the other team wins. If that doesn’t happen, the team with the highest score from the single over will win.

Live Cricket betting Odds

So many factors can affect the outcome of any match rapidly meaning that live betting on cricket can be both entertaining and rewarding.

As with other sports, live betting - or in-play betting - enables you to place bets on the outcome of a match, or on events that may take place during a match, as it is being played.

Live online cricket betting means that you’re able to get a feel for the game and place your bets accordingly. For example, if one team takes a significant lead early on, it might be hard for the other to catch up. Conversely, you may see the odds for the favourite to win get longer if the underdog plays better than expected. If you still believe the favourite will finish as eventual winners, this can provide an opportunity to back them at better odds than were available pre-match.

Betting in-play on cricket also opens up a number of opportunities to wager on what will happen during the course of the contest, meaning that you can sport opportunities as the game progresses as you get a feel for how the match is going, and can account for variables involved.

Best National Competitions for Cricket Betting

Indian Premier League (IPL) - Taking place between March and May, the IPL is one of the most intense Cricket leagues in the world. 10 teams face off in 74 games of TwentyTwenty cricket, in 20/20 games, the in-play markets are the most volatile, meaning that in quick succession odds can quickly change in the favour of different teams. Cricket betting tips suggest keeping an eye on either the Mumbai Indians or the Chennai Super Kings as between them they have won all but six of fifteen tournaments. Cricket odds currently suggest that Mumbai Indians are the favourites alongside 2022 winners Gujarat Titans.

The Hundred - England's answer to Asia's high-intensity competitions comes in the form of the Hundred. The 100-ball cricket tournament involves eight teams for both men and women from across the UK, taking place around August every year, this competition has occurred only twice and still has a lot of adaptations to be made, so if you're looking to place a bet on the tournament, be sure to keep an eye out for any regulation changes. For the women's matches cricket betting tips suggest following Oval Invincibles who have won the first two tournaments while in the mens game. Southern Brave are ones to watch despite losing out to Trent Rockets in 2022.

Australia's Big Bash League - Similar to the IPL, Australia's big bash league is a TwentyTwenty competition featuring eight teams. Widely regarded as one of the best cricket tournaments in the world, this competition can be watched between December and February, meaning that it will be the first event to happen after the TwentyTwenty World Cup in 2022. Whether this means the quality will be lower due to the demands of international cricket, we'll have to see how World Cup match winners perform this year.

Best International Cricket Competitions for Betting

ICC World Test Championship - The World Test Championship is a league competition for test matches run by the ICC. The competition originated in 2019 and runs over the course of a two-year period before taking a year break. New Zealand were the first team to triumph as they won the first tournament. The nine top-ranked teams qualify for the tournament and the top two teams will face off in the final to crown the winner.

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup - One of the oldest tournaments in the world of sports and home to the biggest international matches in the world of cricket. Australia are the most successful team in the history of the tournament - which is held in the ODI format. England won the last rendition of the tournament after beating New Zealand in the final, this was their first tournament victory. Could New Zealand triumph after despair last time out? Should they qualify they'll likely have to defeat England in what would be a high-anticipated rematch.

T20 World Cup - After seven renditions of the T20 World Cup, we look in anticipation to the eighth event. Only West Indies have won the tournament more than once and if either  New Zealand triumph or South Africa shock the world, that will remain. Nepel actually have the best win record at the tournament with 2 wins of out 3 but have only qualified once, Sri Lanka are then second after qualifying for every tournament, they have a win percentage of 63.95%.