Cricket betting explained
Odds and markets
- 50–60%
- Won 55% of 1,019
- 60–70%
- Won 60% of 481
- 70–80%
- Won 80% of 253
- 80–90%
- Won 86% of 222
- 90% or more
- Won 98% of 204
How does cricket betting work?
You back an outcome at the odds a bookmaker offers: who wins the match, who top-scores, how many runs an innings makes. If it happens, you are paid at those odds; if not, you lose the stake. Odds are fixed when the bet is struck, so a price that drifts or shortens afterwards doesn’t change what you are paid.
How do cricket odds work?
Odds are a price on a chance. Fractional odds of 2/1 pay £2 profit for every £1 staked, the same as decimal odds of 3.00, and both imply a one-in-three chance. A favourite at 1/2 (1.50) is priced to win two times in three. Add up the chances a bookmaker offers on every outcome and the total comes to more than 100%; the excess is their margin. Use our betting odds converter
What are the main cricket betting markets?
Match winner (also called match odds or money line) is the biggest by far. Runs markets come next: runs in an innings, in a single over or in a set stretch of overs, and the score when the next wicket falls. Player markets make up the rest of the main ones: top batter and top bowler for each side, a player’s runs and player of the match.
What is the match winner market?
A bet on which side wins. In limited-overs cricket it has two outcomes, and a tie is usually settled by the super over. In a Test, the market is three-way: either side, or the draw.
Do the favourites win as often as the odds say?
When the chances are right, yes: a side given 70% should win about seven times in ten over a run of matches, no more and no less. Our own favourites in men’s T20s have done that in every band, from near coin-flips to heavy favourites. Our track record
Does winning the toss help you win the match?
Hardly. In men’s T20 leagues from 2021 to 2025, the side that won the toss won 51% of the matches that had a winner.
Where can I find a prediction for a cricket match?
Our match previews give each side’s chance of winning from our model, with the expected XIs, the ground’s par score and the weather, for the major men’s T20 leagues and internationals. Upcoming previews
Test match betting
- 15%2016
- 15%2017
- 11%2018
- 11%2019
- 14%2020
- 17%2021
- 16%2022
- 18%2023
- 4%2024
- 8%2025
How does Test match betting work?
Test match odds have three outcomes: a win for either side, or the draw. A Test that runs out of time is drawn however far ahead one side is, so the draw has a price of its own and it shortens as rain and flat pitches eat into the five days.
How often are Test matches drawn?
Less often than they were. 15% of men’s Tests from 2016 to 2023 were drawn, but only 6% in 2024 and 2025, as sides score faster and chase results. A draw at long odds is a worse bet than it used to be.
What is draw no bet?
A match bet with the draw taken out. If your side wins you are paid, if it loses you lose, and if the match is drawn your stake comes back. The odds are shorter than in the three-way market to pay for that.
What happens to Test bets when rain stops play?
Match bets stand. Lost time makes the draw more likely, but a draw is a result, so bets are settled on it. A Test abandoned without a ball bowled is void.
How is Test series betting settled?
On the series result once every Test is played: either side to win the series, or the series drawn, which is a real outcome in two- and four-Test series. Correct series score markets name the exact scoreline, draws included.
Does top batter in a Test count both innings?
Usually not. Most bookmakers settle Test top batter on the first innings only and offer second-innings markets separately. Check the market name: “1st innings top batter” and “match top batter” are different bets.
Top batter and top bowler
How does top batter betting work?
You pick the player who will score the most runs for their side in the innings. Openers are short because they have the most balls to face: in men’s T20 leagues from 2021 to 2025, a side’s top scorer batted in the top three 59% of the time, and opened 41% of the time.
What happens if my top batter doesn’t bat?
If the player is in the starting XI, the bet usually stands and loses, as they scored no runs. If they are left out of the XI, the bet is void. A batter who retires hurt keeps the runs they made.
What is a dead heat in cricket betting?
When two or more players tie for top batter or top bowler, the stake is split between them. With a two-way tie, half your stake is paid at full odds and the other half is lost: £10 at 4.00 returns £20, not £40.
How often is top batter a dead heat?
Rarely: 1.8% of team innings in men’s T20 leagues from 2021 to 2025 had two batters level on the most runs.
How is top bowler settled when bowlers take the same wickets?
It happens all the time. In 37% of men’s T20 league innings from 2021 to 2025, two or more bowlers shared the most wickets. Some bookmakers split the tie on fewest runs conceded, which would have settled 93% of those ties outright; others pay every one as a dead heat, which costs a winning bet half its return.
What is player of the match betting?
A bet on who is named player of the match, settled on the official award. Back someone from the side you expect to win: in men’s T20 leagues from 2021 to 2025, 98% of the awards went to a player on the winning side.
Runs, totals and sixes
What are innings runs betting?
The bookmaker sets a line, such as 172.5 runs for the first innings, and you bet over or under it. The half-run means there is no push. A men’s T20 league first innings averaged 166 from 2021 to 2025, but lines move a long way by league and ground.
How many sixes are hit in a T20 match?
12.4 a match on average in men’s T20 leagues from 2021 to 2025, counting both innings. The IPL and Major League Cricket now run close to 19.
What happens to totals bets when overs are lost?
It depends on how many are lost. Once rain cuts an innings past the bookmaker’s limit, innings runs and match totals bets are void unless already settled (an over bet that had already passed the line). An innings that ends with the side all out or the target reached is complete however many overs it used, so bets on it stand. How many overs can be lost
What are over and period runs bets?
Over or under a line for runs in one over, or in a stretch of overs: the first five or six of a T20 innings, say, or in play, while the 16th over of an ODI is being bowled, the score after 20. Each is settled once the last over in it is bowled, so it needs those overs to happen.
Rain, DLS and ties
What happens to my bet if a cricket match is rained off?
If no result is possible, match bets are void and stakes come back. That is rarer than British summers suggest: of the 3,078 men’s T20 league matches that got under way from 2021 to 2025, 58 ended without a result, about one in fifty. Bets on markets already settled, such as the toss, stand.
How many overs can be lost before cricket bets are void?
It depends on the market and the bookmaker. Match winner bets stand whenever there is an official result, however short the match. Player and runs markets are stricter. Many UK bookmakers void them if less than 80% of the scheduled overs can be bowled in either innings (fewer than 16 overs a side in a T20, or 40 in an ODI), unless the bet is already settled. Others void them once a set number of overs is lost after the bet was struck, as few as three in a T20. Rain cut the overs in 5% of men’s T20 league matches from 2021 to 2025.
Do bets stand if a match is decided by DLS?
Yes. Match winner bets are settled on the official result, and a DLS result is official. 3% of men’s T20 league matches and 7% of men’s ODIs from 2021 to 2025 were decided by DLS. Use our DLS calculator
What happens to bets on a tie?
In most limited-overs competitions a tie goes to a super over, and match bets are settled on its winner. Where the rules let a tie stand, as in the Vitality Blast group stage, match bets are paid under dead-heat rules: half the stake at full odds. 26 men’s T20 league matches were tied from 2021 to 2025; 9 of them were in the Blast and stayed tied.
Do super over runs count for player and totals bets?
No. Runs, wickets and sixes in a super over don’t count towards top batter, top bowler, innings runs or match sixes. They only decide the match winner.
What if a match is moved to another day or ground?
Most bookmakers keep bets alive if the match starts within a set window of the original time, often 24 or 48 hours, and void them after that. A change of ground usually voids them too.
Are cricket betting rules the same at every bookmaker?
No. Rules on lost overs, ties, dead heats and players who don’t bat vary by operator, so always check the cricket rules of the sportsbook you bet with before you place a bet.
In-play betting
What is in-play cricket betting?
Betting while the match is on. Prices move ball by ball as runs come and wickets fall, and markets open on the next over, the next wicket and the next batter’s score as well as the match itself. Live scores
Why are in-play cricket markets suspended?
Bookmakers close markets as each ball is bowled and on any wicket, review or injury, then reopen them at new prices. A bet struck just before a wicket can be cancelled if the bookmaker’s feed was behind the play.
What is cash out?
An offer from the bookmaker to settle your bet early for a sum based on the current price. It costs a margin on top of the original one, so cashing out regularly hands back value.
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