T20 cricket is a revelation and provides unique betting opportunities. This article, written by a pro cricket punter, discusses numerous strategies that he uses.
Find out how to evaluate each team correctly and know which type of player has the biggest impact.
The Big Bash League provides plenty of opportunities to find some value in a variety of markets, provided you go into the tournament with the appropriate strategies.
The Analysts’ detail some steps to follow when looking to unearth a wager on one of the world’s biggest T20 tournaments.
Assessing the relative strengths of the bowlers within each side is very important because there is no doubt that it is bowlers – more so than batsmen – that win T20 matches. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the history of the BBL, reaching the final in four of the six seasons and never finishing lower than third, including two top-placed finishes from the past two seasons.
The Scorchers have built their legacy on the back of a highly-skilled and specialised bowling attack as evidenced by the fact that five of the top 15 wicket-takers in the history of the BBL have played for Perth, whereas only two of the top 15 run-scorers have turned out for the Scorchers. Moreover last season when Perth finished top of the table with just two regular season losses, none of their top-order batsmen boasted a strike-rate higher than 130, however they had five bowlers with a strike-rate under 20 and four with an economy rate of 7.50 or lower.
Similarly last season’s champions the Strikers won the title off the back of having five of the top eleven wicket-takers in the competition, with three of those bowlers conceding less than 6.50 runs an over. So if you spot a couple of teams that look similarly unbalanced, it is always shrewd to assign more credence to the side that has the stronger bowling attack.
The Big Bash and other T20 Leagues around the world offer plenty of opportunities to find some value in a variety of markets, provided you go into the tournament with the appropriate strategies.
The Analysts detail some steps to follow when looking to unearth a wager on T20 tournaments.
Whilst unbalanced sides don’t always finish as champions they do open up a number of betting opportunities within the BBL – particularly on side markets like Highest First 6 Over Total, Most Sixes and Total Sixes. Identifying imbalances or mismatches between teams can be a highly effective way of spotting some value. When canvassing over each squad be sure to mark down who will opening the batting and open the bowling, the hitting power within the side and how effective the death bowling is.
When you identify a disparity, either pick the most relevant side market or make the most of the mismatch with the timing of your Match Odds trades.
For example if you have a powerful pair of opening batsmen up against some notably wayward opening bowlers you can either back the batting side to have the Highest 6 Over Total, or simply back the batting side in the Match Odds at the start of their innings.
Another example would be backing a team in the Most Sixes market who have a highly proficient suite of death bowlers, while two poor bowling attacks playing against each other often result in an overs result for Most Sixes. If you do have two ordinary bowling attacks coming up against each other then an alternate strategy would be to simply back both sides in the Match Odds when batting.
Always remember that there are two sides to the equation when exploring these markets – for example whilst you need big strong batsmen to hit sixes, you equally need canny and accurate bowlers to not concede too many sixes. Bowlers are not just crucial to winning games of T20 cricket, they are also pivotal when it comes to considering imbalances between sides and making the most of these via the various markets available.
The Big Bash League provides plenty of opportunities to find some value in a variety of markets, provided you go into the tournament with the appropriate strategies. The Analysts details some steps to follow when looking to unearth a wager on one of the world’s biggest T20 tournaments.
One of the key things to remember when gauging the merits of a BBL side is that T20 matches are more often won by significant contributions from a handful of players, rather than the entire XI chipping in. While captains and coaches will have you believe that they could not have got over the line if not for each and every player “executing their role”, it’s important to remember that some roles are much more pivotal than others.
Take last season’s runners-up the Hobart Hurricanes, for example. Between them, four players – Darcy Short, Ben McDermott, Dan Christian and Jofra Archer – scored 59% of their runs and took 53% of their wickets over the course of the tournament. That means that 25% of total players used contributed over half of all runs and wickets which highlights how each side should be assessed on their top few strongest players, rather than the composition of their full squad.
Furthermore when evaluating the strength of those top players, or indeed any players within a BBL side, it’s crucial to focus purely on their abilities within T20 cricket and not oversell or underestimate them unfairly based on their proficiency in other formats.
A highly successful test or even one-day player does automatically guarantee a T20 master, however this is one of the most common pitfalls a punter can fall into. Even if a side contains a collection of “big name” players, be sure to closely examine their records in the shortest forms of the game as it can often be the more unheralded specialists who actually bring more value to their team.
Additionally when you sit down to rank the merits of each player in T20 cricket it’s important to look at the right stats. With batsmen, more weight should be assigned to a higher strike-rate, rather than the traditional statistical approach of using a batsman’s average.
That’s because an innings of 25 off 25 balls will in all likelihood be detrimental to their team’s chances of winning, whereas a knock of 16 off 8 balls can be advantageous at any point throughout a team’s innings. Averages are naturally lower in T20 cricket given the pace of the format and while a batsman who scores consistently does provide value, if they regularly operate at a lethargic strike-rate they are likely doing more harm than good.
The same theory, however, does not quite apply to bowlers as the times when bowlers operate generally dictates which is the most important statistic with which to assess them. For example you might have a bowler who has acquired a favourable average on the back of picking up cheap wickets at the death, yet their astronomical economy rate indicates that they are not particularly effective in their role.
Conversely you may have a bowler with an excellent economy rate who bowls through the middle overs, but a poor strike-rate suggests they don’t ask sufficient questions of the opposition during that period and as a result they put their death bowlers under increased pressure.
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