Cricket World Cup Betting

If the One Day Series in Australia was a case of ‘After The Lord Mayor’s Show’ then what is the cricket World Cup? As far as England are concerned the Lord Mayor’s show was so good that everyone is throwing a sickie to recover. The absence of Eoin Morgan is a big blow, the middle order lack the ‘finisher’ the best teams have. The bookmakers agree and the price on England has been on the drift for several weeks. Andy Flower’s men can be backed at best odds of 8/1 with Boylesports.

With the tournament being staged in the sub-continent, hosts India and Sri Lanka top the betting at 3/1 and 9/2 respectively. The teams are ranked two and three in the world in this format of the game and the fervent home support should carry them into the knock-out stages.

Australia are top of the tree according to the ICC rankings but the bookmakers only rate them 6/1 shots and fourth favourites. The aura around the Australian cricket team has slowly been dismantled by England in the last two Ashes series, even a thumping 6-1 victory in the ODIs wasn’t enough to redeem them in the eyes of the bookmakers.

The top batsman betting is dominated by household names, with the iconic Sachin Tendulkar favourite at 14/1 with Totesport. Fellow countryman Virender Sehwag follows in the betting at 16/1 with Kevin Pietersen the lowest priced England batsman at 28/1 with Bet365.

Sri Lankan - Lasith Malinga tops the bowler betting at 12/1 closely followed by Dale Steyn of South Africa at 16/1. The dusty subcontinent wickets are often conducive to spin and Muttiah Muralitharan is 20/1 to be the leading wicket taker in his swan song. Graeme Swann is the highest rated Englishman in the market at 25/1 with Boylesports.