How to Bet on Cricket
Start with the format, not the match. The single most common mistake new cricket bettors make is treating a T20, an ODI and a Test as the same bet — they aren’t, and the order that fixes it is simple: read the format, pick the market that fits, decode the price, then size the stake. Do those four in order and you’re betting like someone who knows the sport, not guessing.
You place all of this at Scorebet, where the cricket markets run live. But the thinking comes first.
Step one: read the format before the match
Cricket comes in three formats and each one bets like a different sport. A T20 is 20 overs a side, over in a few hours, and it’s high-variance — big totals, momentum that swings in two overs, favourites that fall over. An ODI is 50 overs across a full day, steadier, where a stronger side has time to assert itself. A Test runs five days, two innings each, and the draw is a genuine result — sessions, weather and a deteriorating pitch decide it as much as the two teams.
This matters before you look at a single price. A 1.55 favourite means something very different in a coin-flip T20 than in an ODI where the better side usually grinds it out. Format first, always.
Step two: pick the market that fits your read
Once you know the format, pick the market that matches what you actually have a view on. The full set is in the cricket bet types guide, but the starting points are:
- Match result — who wins. Two-way in a T20 or ODI; three-way in a Test because the draw is priced alongside the two wins.
- Total match runs (over/under) — a read on the surface and the format, not the winner. Back this when you fancy the pitch but not the result.
- Top batsman / top bowler — back a player to top their team’s runs or wickets. Batting position and bowling role drive this.
The discipline is to bet only the market you have a genuine read on. If you know the pitch is flat but have no clue who wins, the totals market is your bet — not a coin-flip on the result.
Step three: decode the price
South African books quote decimal odds: the number is your total return per R1, so R100 at 1.80 returns R180 (your R100 back plus R80 profit). Convert any price to the chance it implies with 1 ÷ odds — 1.80 implies about 56%.
Add the implied chances across a two-way market and they top 100%; in a T20 you might see the favourite at 1.55 (≈65%) and the underdog at 2.50 (≈40%), totalling 105%. That extra 5% is the bookmaker’s margin, charged on every price, and it’s why most bettors lose over time. The job is to find prices where your honest read of the chance beats the implied number — that’s the only thing that beats the margin.
Step four: stake with sense
Pick a bankroll you’d be fine losing, and bet a small, flat fraction of it per bet — not “whatever I feel”. The reason is the variance: a T20 favourite at 65% still loses better than one game in three, so even good bets go down in bunches. Flat staking survives those runs; chasing a bad day with a bigger bet is how punters go broke. Never stake the rent, never bet to win back a loss.
A first bet, worked in rand
Say you fancy the home side in an ODI — a steadier format where favourites hold up — and they’re priced 1.70. That implies about 59%. If your honest read is that they’re closer to 65% likely given the conditions and the squad, the price is in your favour. A R100 stake returns R170 if it lands (R70 profit). You’ll still lose it sometimes — 65% means roughly one loss in three — but backing that edge repeatedly is how you finish ahead. One sensible bet on a market you understand beats five guesses across markets you don’t.
Where to go from here
Get the four-step order into your bones — format, market, price, stake — and you’ve got the spine of cricket betting. From here, learn the markets in depth in the cricket bet types guide, sharpen your read of the national side on the Proteas page, and step back for the full picture on the cricket betting overview. When you’re ready to bet, the cricket markets are live at Scorebet.
Frequently asked
What is the easiest cricket bet for a beginner?
The match result in a T20 or ODI — a straight pick of which side wins, with no draw to complicate it. It's the simplest way to learn how a format scores before you take on player or totals markets.
How do cricket odds work in South Africa?
South African books quote decimal odds — the number is your total return per R1 staked, so R100 at 1.80 returns R180. Divide one by the price for the chance it implies, and you start reading the market the way the bookmaker does.
Do I need to know cricket to bet on it?
You need to know the format and the conditions more than the players. A flat T20 deck, a green Test pitch, a settled squad — those reads beat reputation, and they're learnable from watching the cricket you already follow.
What happens to my bet if rain cuts the match short?
It depends on the market and the book's rule. Limited-overs games revised by Duckworth-Lewis-Stern usually settle on the official result, so your match-result bet stands on the DLS winner — but if no result is declared, match bets are typically voided and stakes returned. Totals and player props can be voided if the innings doesn't reach a set number of overs, so check the rain rules before betting in a wet forecast.
Why does the toss deserve a line in your pre-match read?
In limited-overs cricket the side that wins the toss usually picks the easier half of the game — batting first on a deck that'll deteriorate, or chasing under lights when dew helps the ball skid on. The toss is a coin-flip you can't predict, but its outcome shifts the match-winner price, so wait for it where you can rather than backing a side before you know which conditions they'll get.