When betting on cricket it can often be difficult to get an edge over the bookmakers. There are often so many statistics available for the bookmakers to look at that it is easy for them to draw up very accurate prices.
There are ways to win on cricket though and many people do it for a living so here we have made a list of five ways in which you can improve your cricket betting and become more profitable.
1) Avoid betting on draws in test matches
One of the easiest mistakes to make in cricket betting is betting on the draw too often. Indeed, cricket it is one of a very small number of sports where the draw is often the most popular bet. Particularly after the second or third day of a test match when the second innings seems as if it may go on forever, it becomes very tempting to back the draw.
Our advice at this point would be to not do that and try and work out which team has the momentum and back them. People often underestimate the capacity for pitches to deteriorate and at the top level of cricket it becomes very difficult to bat during the last two days of a test match.
2) Don't be afraid to bet on both teams
If you have had a bet on one team it can be very easy to harbour a loyalty to that side. This means that you often want to either keep betting on that team regardless of the scenario or to 'let the bet run' or not hedge your position once the time is right.
In cricket betting, and increasingly so in the Twenty20, a game's momentum swings regularly. This can mean that the favourite in a game can quickly become the outsider and vica versa. So if you have backed the outsider and it's price shortens it is often wise to bet on the other team at that point to assure you profit.
Associated with this is a popular cricket betting theory. The theory suggests that you find two sides who are very close to one another in the betting. You then wait for one side to reach odds of 2.5 and bet on it. The bettor then waits for the game to swing back in the favour of the team they have bet on and then bets on the other side when their odds reach 2.5, thereby securing themselves guaranteed profit. This tactic is best played in limited overs cricket but be warned, it can be very costly if the game's momentum fails to change.
3) Be wary of buying runs
When betting on over/unders and spread betting it can be very tempting to buy runs, particularly if you support the team you are betting on. There is also usually a far greater potential to win far greater sums when buying runs.
These two factors mean that betting on 'the overs' is by far the most popular betting option for most punters and this means that the markets are often made artificially high as the bookmakers attempt to balance their books. Therefore by betting 'the under' you are more likely to get an edge. When betting on the runs it is also very important to check the weather which we will discuss now.
4) Check the weather forecast
Cricket will forever be associated with weather and in particular it is associated with rain. Now we don't suggest you check to see if rain is forecast and then bet on the draw as it is likely the bookies will have noticed that too and future forecasts can often be wrong. It is far better to actually be close to the ground on the day with first hand knowledge of what the conditions are really like.
If the day appears to be dry and sunny then it will make it difficult for the bowlers to make the ball swing. This means that the opening batsmen have a chance of staying in longer and scoring more runs. You should therefore favour a team known for it's batting and look at buying runs (if the prices are right). If, however, it is damp, humid and overcast then the bowlers will get the ball to move much more and you should not expect as many runs, a result will be more likely and you should favour the team with a strong bowling attack.
5) Check the prices
There is no point having a bet unless the price is right. If you think India would win 80% of the time against New Zealand and you can get odds of just 1.1 on India then you should not have a bet, as those odds suggest that you will only be profitable if India win 90% of the time or more. In that scenario a fair bet would be a bet on India at 1.25 and anything above that would be 'good value'.
Getting the correct price is very important and so it is often better to bet on a team that is less likely to win but whose odds are more representative of their chances of winning than it is to just always bet on the team that you think will win.
Finally, there are lots of different bookmakers around and you should look around and compare different sites to make sure you get the best possible price. All of the best punters do this and if you want to be a profitable bettor then it is essential you always take the best price.
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