ICC Cricket World Cup betting is one of the most popular forms of sports betting in Australia. So much so, that even a load of Aussie sportsbooks offer great lines on the tournament when it comes around every four years. If you’re keen on betting on the upcoming Cricket World Cup, you have come to the right place.
Down below, we get into how to bet on the prestigious tournament (which Australia seems to dominate) and how to read betting odds you may encounter at sports betting sites. So, read on and learn all you need to know about betting on this competition.
Best ICC Cricket World Cup Betting Sites 2020
How to Bet on the Cricket World Cup
Cricket betting on the ICC Cricket World Cup is very fun. It makes you feel as if you’re part of the global community watching the game while maintaining a chance to win real money prizes. The following cricket world cup betting markets have proven to be exceedingly popular with Australian punters:
- Cricket World Cup Outright Betting – this is a bet that focuses on predicting who might win the entire tournament long before the final takes place. You may place this bet before the tournament begins, in the group stage or during the knockout stages. It is important to remember that the earlier you place it, the more likely you are to get better odds.
- Top Runscorer – these are bets made on which player will score the most runs in the tournament. It is essentially another type of outright bet, except player focused.
- Top Wicket Taker – similar to top runscorer bets, except this time the bet focuses on predicting who will bet the best bowler in the tournament.
- Match Results – these bets are just focused on determining who will win one singular match instead of the whole tournament.
- Props – these bets focus on predicting whether or not certain happenings will take place during a match. Punters could bet on a batsman to reach 50 runs or bowlers to take a certain number of wickets.
- Handicaps – as the name may already imply, these bets give one team a handicap. The aim is to level the odds between the favourite and underdog. In these instances, the favourite will need to beat the underdog by a certain number of points in order for the bet to be successful. If the underdog wins or loses by less than the handicapped score, bets made on the team will be successful.
Understanding Cricket World Cup Odds
To people who aren’t familiar with sports betting, odds may seem to be rather confusing. However, we’re here to tell you that they’re pretty easy to read and understand. If this is all that is preventing you from placing bets on the cricket world cup, our short guide down below should get you sorted.
Basically, there are three different types of odds systems: decimal, fractional and American. Most Australian and European sportsbook tend to make use of the decimal system, which is very easy to read. (We’re going to focus on explaining how decimal odds work here, but if you’re interested in learning how American and fractional odds work, be sure to visit our sports betting guide.)
Thus, when you visit a sports betting site, odds will generally be displayed like this:
The one thing punters should keep in mind is that they need to be shopping around for the best odds. That is the only way to ensure that you make the most money possible on your bet.
ICC Cricket World Cup Betting Tips
Although we won’t claim to be the best cricket tipsters to walk the earth, we can share a few cricket world cup tips that will ensure that you make better bets. Some of these include the following:
- Don’t focus on the world rankings too much going into the tournament. It is important to note that while it is always important to pay attention to team form when placing cricket bets, there have been many situations in which the world number one cricket team has not won the tournament. Neither South Africa nor England have picked up a World Cup win despite entering the tournament ranked best in the world. So, this is something to keep in mind.
- While we believe that you should never be biased and bet on the team that you support, the Australian national cricket team has been known to perform very well in the World Cup. In fact, the team has won four of the last five tournaments in the last 20 years. Thus, an outright bet on the team wouldn’t prove to be all that unwise. Bear in mind, that you should also keep the team’s current form in mind before following this advice blindly.
- Everybody knows that cricket is a hugely popular sport in Australia. Thus, many sportsbooks do tend to hold promotions that allow punters to maximise their bets during the World Cup. When placing a bet online, you need to be looking at whether or not you can make use of these promotions to make your money go further.
Past World Cup Winners
Below is every winner of the ICC Cricket World Cup since the first tournament was played in 1975. It really is quite easy to see why so many sportsbooks tend to favour Australia to win the tournament. With five wins since the tournament was first invented, they really are a good tournament pick:
| Year | Winner |
| 1975 | West Indies |
| 1979 | West Indies |
| 1983 | India |
| 1987 | Australia |
| 1992 | Pakistan |
| 1996 | Sri Lanka |
| 1999 | Australia |
| 2003 | Australia |
| 2007 | Australia |
| 2011 | India |
| 2015 | Australia |