Standard limited overs cricket was introduced in England in the 1963 season in the form of a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other major cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971.
In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Limited overs cricket has seen various innovations including the use of multi-coloured kit and floodlit matches using a white ball.
A "one day match", named so because each match is scheduled for completion in a single day, is the common form of limited overs cricket played on an international level. In practice, matches sometimes continue on a second day if they have been interrupted or postponed by bad weather.
The main objective of a limited overs match is to produce a definite result and so a conventional draw is not possible, but matches can be undecided if the scores are tied or if bad weather prevents a result.
Each team plays one innings only and faces a limited number of overs, usually a maximum of 50. The Cricket World Cup is held in one day format and the last World Cup in 2011 was won by the co-hosts, India.
Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three hours, usually in an evening session. The original idea, when the concept was introduced in England in 2003, was to provide workers with an evening entertainment. It was commercially successful and has been adopted internationally.
Here's a list of popular Cricket events in Europe:
There are generally three ways to bet on Cricket, these are:
Outright Cricket Tournament Winner - a bet on which team will be the outright of a Cricket tournament (e.g. bet on the winner of the County Championship or Friends Life t20 winner).
Matchups - a bet on the winner of a Cricket match (e.g. bet on the winner of the match between India and England or Durham and Sussex).
Specials - a bet on the outcome of a special event during the match or tournament. Specials include bet on the winner of the toss, which team has the most match sixes, which player is declared as the man of the match and the like.
For the Outright Winner Cricket bet, all you have to do is pick the team which you think has the best chance of winning the tournament. Sports betting sites provide a list of available tournaments, each participating team and their corresponding odds, like:
| County Championship | |
|---|---|
| Durham | 4/1 |
| Lancashire | 9/2 |
| Somerset | 5/1 |
| Warwickshire | 11/2 |
| Nottinghamshire | 6/1 |
| Surrey | 7/1 |
| Sussex | 8/1 |
| Middlesex | 12/1 |
| Worcestershire | 50/1 |
In the above example, Durham is the favorite, while Worcestershire is the long shot. At odds of 4/1, a €20.00 bet on Durham returns €100.00 (€20.00 bet + €80.00 winnings). Meanwhile, a €10.00 bet on Worcestershire returns €510.00 (€10.00 bet + €500.00 winnings).
For matchup Cricket bets, all you have to do is pick which team will win a particular matchup. Betting sites list matchup Cricket bets as:
| 1 | 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| India v England | 4/5 | 1/1 |
Note that some sites list "1" as "Home" (Home team) and "2" as "Away" (Away or visiting team).
At odds of 4/5, a €20.00 bet on India returns €18.00 (€10.00 bet + €8.00 winnings). Meanwhile, at odds of 1/1 (or even odds), a €20.00 bet on England returns €40.00 (€20.00 bet + €20.00 winnings).
What sets Cricket betting apart from other sports is the number of "Special" bets available. These special bets include:
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