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Successful Betting On Test Match Cricket!
THERE IS an upside to the England cricket teams poor international test match results
(one day international england or The Twenty20) - Spread betting offers the chance to
profit from England's losses.
Here are just a few opportunities for spread betting on cricket
Now that summer has arrived it's time for the second of our national games, cricket, to take
entre stage. With an exciting series ahead against the once goodside New Zealand, England will be looking
to improve on their record of the past few years.
Their efforts should provide some excellent spread-betting opportunities because cricket is a
game tailor made for this kind of gambling.
Naturally, all spread betting is based on numbers. So, the more "numbers" associated with
a sport the better it is for playing the spreads.
With cricket, you couldn't get more "numbers". Wickets, runs, byes, no-balls, wides, and
overs; the list goes on and on.
For a shrewd move spread punter the opportunities are tremendous. To start with, let's consider
probably the most heavily traded market, which is that of runs.
The Runs Market
At the start of every Test match involving England the spread betting bookies will offer a market
on the number of runs that might be scored in each innings.
Suppose in the opening Test match of this summer England win the toss and decide to bat first. The
New Zealand are not the force they used to be but England can be a bit flaky to say the least!
So, depending on the prevailing weather conditions and the batsmen selected, England might be
quoted for a first innings total of 320-335.
If you think England will score more than 335, you buy at that total for so much per
run. If you think they will score less than 320, you sell at that figure for so much
per run.
If you buy and England score more than 335, you win the difference per run between their
final total and the 335. If you sell and they score less than 320, you win the difference
per run between their final total and the 320.
However, if you buy and they score less than 335 you lose the difference per run between
the two totals. If you sell and they score more than 320 you, again, lose the difference per
run between the two totals.
Obviously, this market can be very volatile. But it is vital to remember that the initial quote
will be constantly updated throughout the innings. If England make a bad start and lose some wickets early
on the initial quote will drop.
If they do the opposite and begin strongly, the quote will rise. Punters can close their bets
early using the fresh quotes at any time.
To illustrate, if someone buys at 335 and England thrash a quick 60 without loss
off the first 10 overs, the initial quote will go up to around the 365-380 mark.
Hence, the punter who has bought at 335 could now sell at 365 for a rapid 30 times their
stake per run profit. Remember, with spread betting you always buy at the high and sell at the low.
Opportunity Now In A Volatile Market Cricket Betting
It's because the runs market is so volatile that opportunities occur. A tip to remember here is that
the spread betting dealers are sometimes a little slow to react if a team quickly starts to lose their
early wickets.
On an initial quote of 320-335, if England slumped to, say 40 for three (not unheard of)
the spread might be reduced to 220-228.
Given England's propensity for middle order collapse that might still seem too high. Hence,
placing a sell bet would be the thing to do. If they did stage a recovery, the bet could always be closed
early if it started to look like they were going to exceed 220.
It's here where the most crucial cricket spread betting tip comes in. Whenever a bet is
placed on runs, set a loss limit and stick to it.
If you are going to bet £5 a run and are only prepared to lose £250,
the wager must be closed if the quote goes against you to the tune of 50 runs.
Sometimes you'll find this will cost you more money than if you'd seen it through. Take it from
us though, any punter who doesn't set loss limits when spread betting on cricket will soon be wiped out.
Betting On The Cricket Batsmen
Another excellent and less volatile cricket market is the one on the number of runs a nominated
batsman might score in a series.
In the forthcoming England versus New Zealand series, it might be Kevin Pietersen who is
quoted over how many runs he is expected to accumulate throughout all of the matches.
Anyone thinking he will score more than the quote would buy and anyone thinking the opposite
would sell. Again, the quote will be updated throughout the series.
There is one thing that punters need to look out for more than anything else with this market.
Quite simply, it's an excellent one to oppose out of form batsmen on.
It's far from unheard of for a top name batsman who is struggling to find form to be over quoted.
A sell of anyone in this position can be a profitable move.
Wager On Crickets Wickets
Turning away from runs, the spread bookies will also quote for how many wickets individual
bowlers might take across a series. If there is any tip here, it is to look for low quotes on recognised
spinners.
Other than the still brilliant Shane Warne (or Muttiah Muralitharan ), spin bowlers
are not as highly regarded when it comes to quotes as are their medium and fast paced colleagues.
This is probably because spinners often don't get to bowl as many overs as the quickies.
Gamble On Line The Result
With spread betting, the result of a cricket match can also be bet upon. This is achieved through
the bookies saying that a victory by every run is worth one point, and a win by every wicket is worth ten points.
So, if England won a match by five wickets they would achieve 50 points. If they won a game
by 50 runs that, too, would be worth 50 points. Obviously, with cricket wins are achieved through either
runs or wickets.
Bearing the above scoring method in mind, the dealers would quote a points total for one,
if not both of the teams.
Once a game is under way this can be a very interesting market. If you feel the quote on a
team is too high, you would sell it. If you thought the opposite, you'd buy.
Here, look out for matches where one team has been totally dominant. In these cases, it's
sometimes worth remembering that the most beleaguered sides can still stage late rallies.
They might not do enough to save a match but they can go down by a narrower margin than first
looked likely. Thus, a sell on the dominant team can prove profitable.
One Day Gamer or 20Twenty Games
What other cricket markets are there? Plenty! So far we've looked at Test matches. But,
as the real die-hard cricket fans will lament, the one-day gamer (or 20twenty) has long been a crucial
part of the sport.
It's on a series of one-day games where some brilliant quotes can be found. A highly interesting
one is often called "50 ups".
Here, the dealers will produce a spread on the total number of runs above fifty all a side's
batsmen might produce. It's better explained with an example.
If England are playing a series of three one-day games, the dealers might quote a spread of
115-125 for the "50 up" market.
Once the three games are over, if five English batsmen have scored 55, 65, 78,
90 and 97, the market would make up at 135.
This would come from each of the five batsmen having scored 5, 15, 28, 40 and 47 in excess of
50. These five figures add up to 135.
Thus, anyone who had bought the 50 up market at 125 would have made 10 times
their per run stake.
As with the vast majority of cricket quotes, the latter market would have been updated as the three
one-day games progressed.
On this market, the thing to look out for is low quotes. This sounds obvious but if a team
batting first in a one-day game starts scoring freely thanks to one batsmen thrashing it everywhere,
their "50 up" quote can be made to look very small.
Free Bets
Countless-Time Markets
With cricket spread betting, there are countless time more markets we could look at.
Unfortunately we haven't got the space, so the best advice before England line up against the New Zealand
is for punters to interrogate pages 601, 604, 608 and 609 on Channel Four Televison teletext.
It's here where the spread betting firms advertise their wares.
In particular, look out for quotes on wides in a series or, better still, a tournament. Last year,
the dealers slipped up badly with the total number of wides quoted on the World Cup.
Quite a few punters had nice summer holidays as a result.
However, when looking at quotes, one final thing to remember. Sadly, English cricket
remains at a very low ebb.
The gulf between the county cricket and test level is huge. England does have a small
number of world class players but probably not enough to field a top-flight side.
As a result, the team seems constantly made up to strength by players who have had plenty of chances
but haven't produced the goods on a regular basis.
Bearing this in mind, when perusing the quotes keep an eye open for any players in this group of
"nearly men" that are being given another chance.
It might be hugely profitable to sell all of them because most have failed to shine in the past.
Naturally, one or two might come off but it's unlikely they all will.
And on that rather depressing note for the English game, it's time to draw stumps on our brief
look at cricket spread betting. Good punting.
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